adj.
- Music relating to or using notes not belonging to the diatonic scale of the key of a passage.
▸(of a scale) ascending or descending by semitones.
- relating to or produced by colour.
Derivative
- chromatically adv.
- chromaticism n.
Etymology
C17: from Fr. chromatique or L. chromaticus, from Gk khrōmatikos, from khrōma, khrōmat- ‘colour, chromatic scale’.