(n.) Half a tone; -- the name commonly applied to the smaller intervals of the diatonic scale.
Example Sentences:
(1) In Experiment 1, children from 4 to 6 years of age were superior in detecting the semitone change in the diatonic context compared with the nondiatonic context.
(2) Model recognition performance shows a rapid improvement in correct vowel identification as the difference between the fundamental frequencies of two simultaneous vowels increases from zero to one semitone in a manner closely resembling human performance.
(3) The 6-month-olds' better performance on the major and augmented interval patterns than on the pelog interval pattern is potentially attributable to either the 6-month-olds' lesser perceptual acculturation than that of the 1-year-olds or perhaps to an innate predisposition for processing of music based on a single fundamental interval, in this case the semitone.
(4) A significant sex effect, not observed in a prior related study, was eliminated by conversion of the Fo data to semitones.
(5) The results of this study indicate that SFF standard deviation and semitone range of SFF are significantly reduced for patients with vocal fold paralysis as compared with normals.
(6) In Experiment 2, infants 9 to 11 months of age detected the semitone change in all positions, but their performance was not influenced by diatonic context.
(7) Another pattern that consists of simultaneous pairs of tones displays related properties (the semitone paradox).
(8) The tones were either identical in pitch or differed by a semitone.
(9) Comparison of male and female profiles showed similar values for frequency range in semitones, maximum and minimum SPL output, and total SPL range.
(10) Pitch threshold or, alternatively, rate threshold was taken to be the modulation depth required to decide which of two samples had the higher modulation; the rate difference was 20%--just over three semitones.
(11) Previously given preferred notes were rated high, as were notes three or four semitones distant from the preferred notes, but not notes one or two semitones distant.
(12) As this difference increases up to four semitones, performance improves further only slowly, if at all.
(13) He then started to hear all music one semitone too high, and now at the age of 71 it is heard a full tone above the true pitch.
(14) They were tested for their detection of two types of changes to that melody: (a) a 4-semitone change in 1 note that remained within the key and implied dominant harmony (diatonic change) or (b) a 1-semitone change in the same note that went outside the key (nondiatonic change).
(15) In three experiments, musically trained and untrained adults listened to three repetitions of a 5-note melodic sequence followed by a final melody with either the same tune as those preceding it or differing in one position by one semitone.
(16) Within the framework of the experimental conditions, the following conclusions were drawn: 1) The vocal pitch expressed in semitones was almost linearly related to the cricothyroid distance, with an increase of 0.15 to 0.90 semitones per milimeter of cricothyroid approximation.
(17) Frequency difference limens of these signals are in the order of 1-2 semitones.
(18) Specifically, one such waveform, when recorded on magnetic tape, will sound a semitone lower (rather than an octave higher) when played back at twice the tape speed.
(19) The form of the probability weightings derives from constraints on the "semitone span" of the intervals, the "fifth span" of the intervals, and the occurrence of "scale" notes.
(20) Variability in basal pitch levels for individual male children ranged from zero to two semitones from day to day and within time periods on one day.
Sharp
Definition:
(superl.) Having a very thin edge or fine point; of a nature to cut or pierce easily; not blunt or dull; keen.
(superl.) Terminating in a point or edge; not obtuse or rounded; somewhat pointed or edged; peaked or ridged; as, a sharp hill; sharp features.
(superl.) Affecting the sense as if pointed or cutting, keen, penetrating, acute: to the taste or smell, pungent, acid, sour, as ammonia has a sharp taste and odor; to the hearing, piercing, shrill, as a sharp sound or voice; to the eye, instantaneously brilliant, dazzling, as a sharp flash.
(superl.) High in pitch; acute; as, a sharp note or tone.
(superl.) Raised a semitone in pitch; as, C sharp (C/), which is a half step, or semitone, higher than C.
(superl.) So high as to be out of tune, or above true pitch; as, the tone is sharp; that instrument is sharp. Opposed in all these senses to flat.
(superl.) Very trying to the feelings; piercing; keen; severe; painful; distressing; as, sharp pain, weather; a sharp and frosty air.
(superl.) Cutting in language or import; biting; sarcastic; cruel; harsh; rigorous; severe; as, a sharp rebuke.
(superl.) Of keen perception; quick to discern or distinguish; having nice discrimination; acute; penetrating; sagacious; clever; as, a sharp eye; sharp sight, hearing, or judgment.
(superl.) Eager in pursuit; keen in quest; impatient for gratification; keen; as, a sharp appetite.
(superl.) Keenly or unduly attentive to one's own interest; close and exact in dealing; shrewd; as, a sharp dealer; a sharp customer.
(superl.) Composed of hard, angular grains; gritty; as, sharp sand.
(superl.) Steep; precipitous; abrupt; as, a sharp ascent or descent; a sharp turn or curve.
(superl.) Uttered in a whisper, or with the breath alone, without voice, as certain consonants, such as p, k, t, f; surd; nonvocal; aspirated.
(adv.) To a point or edge; piercingly; eagerly; sharply.
(adv.) Precisely; exactly; as, we shall start at ten o'clock sharp.
(n.) A sharp tool or weapon.
(n.) The character [/] used to indicate that the note before which it is placed is to be raised a half step, or semitone, in pitch.
(n.) A sharp tone or note.
(n.) A portion of a stream where the water runs very rapidly.
(n.) A sewing needle having a very slender point; a needle of the most pointed of the three grades, blunts, betweens, and sharps.
(n.) Same as Middlings, 1.
(n.) An expert.
(v. t.) To sharpen.
(v. t.) To raise above the proper pitch; to elevate the tone of; especially, to raise a half step, or semitone, above the natural tone.
(v. i.) To play tricks in bargaining; to act the sharper.
(v. i.) To sing above the proper pitch.
Example Sentences:
(1) Basal 20 alpha DHP levels remained low until a sharp rise at mid pro-oestrus.
(2) Whole-virus vaccines prepared by Merck Sharp and Dohme (West Point, Pa.) and Merrell-National Laboratories (Cincinnati, Ohio) and subunit vaccines prepared by Parke, Davis and Company (Detroit, Mich.) and Wyeth Laboratories (Philadelphia, Pa.) were given intramuscularly in concentrations of 800, 400, or 200 chick cell-agglutinating units per dose.
(3) Gonadectomy of females was accompanied by changes in the activity of individual HAS links in different direction--some reduction of ACTH in the hypophysis, a sharp and significant fall of the peripheral blood glucocorticoid level and a marked significant elevation of hydrococortisone production in the adrenal cortex in vitro.
(4) The University of the Arts London and Sunderland, Sheffield Hallam, Manchester Met and Leeds Met university have also experienced sharp declines in applications.
(5) A sharp decrease in oxygen uptake occurred in Neurospora crassa cells that were transferred from 30 degrees C to 45 degrees C, and the respiration that resumed later at 45 degrees C was cyanide-insensitive.
(6) In contrast to findings in the rat and dog, no sharp drop but a gradual fall in CLi was observed at decreasing FENa values down to 0.02%.
(7) A more specific differentiation, as indicated by the sharp increase in GAD levels which was concurrent with an increase in interneuronal contacts, lagged behind the initial growth.
(8) It appears that the decline in plasma IGF-I lags considerably behind the sharp fall in plasma GH levels and expression of hepatic IGF-I mRNA.
(9) Supplementation of Mg resulted in a sharp increase in serum PTH level with a rapid disappearance of the dissociation between the two immunoassays of PTH.
(10) A.CA animals were extremely susceptible, showing a sharp and sustained increase in parasitemia starting on day 12, followed by death no later than day 15 post-inoculation.
(11) There was a sharp transition with actin nearly saturated with S1: when the S1 to actin ratio was low, the kinetics were fast (K1 greater than 300 microM, k2 greater than 40 s-1); when it was high, they were slow (K1 = 14 microM, k2 = 2 s-1).
(12) Low calcium causes an increase in optimum frequency, a decrease in current threshold, and an increase in sharpness of tuning in both real axons and axons computed according to the Hodgkin-Huxley formulation; high calcium causes opposite effects.
(13) The Tea Party movement has turned climate denial into a litmus test of conservative credentials – and that has made climate change one of the most sharp divisions between Obama and Romney.
(14) The presence in lamprey kidney of a loop which is similar to Henle's loop in mammals and birds indicates that the development of the system of osmotic concentration conditioned by the formation in the kidney of the medulla and from a sharp increase in renal arterial blood supply.
(15) There is no longer a sharp dividing line between working and rentiering.
(16) We are going to see a sharp fall unless sellers hold the sector up by making aggressive offers.
(17) A sharp increase in the intensity of lipids biochemiluminiscence and decrease in the tissue homogenates biochemiluminiscence were observed during the period of progressive tumour growth on the 6-8 days following introduction of the virus.
(18) By no means is this a new theme, but it has taken on an added sharpness and urgency after the conferences.
(19) The blood lymphocytes were small with scanty cytoplasm, densely condensed nuclear chromatin, and deep clefts originating in sharp angles from the nuclear surface.
(20) In sharp contrast, the coverage provided by the various mainstream news channels and newspapers not only seems – with some exceptions – unresponsive and stilted, but often non-existent.