grace note

noun

, Music.

1. a note not essential to the harmony or melody, added as an embellishment, especially an appoggiatura.

grace note

noun

1. music a note printed in small type to indicate that it is melodically and harmonically nonessential

Word History and Origins

Origin of grace note¹

First recorded in 1815–25

Example Sentences

Often her articles end with a grace note of quiet devastation, a cogent detail or observation that brings her subject into focus.

From Washington Post

It is a wonderful thing that the conflict in Iraq can end of something of a grace note for our country.

From The Daily Beast

Then I discovered that there is a trill, a tiny grace note or yodel, at the end of his second note.

From Project Gutenberg

A melancholy grace-note from the dog, a jolt, and I turned around, appalled.

From Project Gutenberg

Also a short shake or transient grace-note struck immediately before the note it is intended to ornament.

From Project Gutenberg

He whistled as Jacob had done before, but with another grace-note at the end.

From Project Gutenberg

In the second bar a note which the editor had taken for an eighth-note was explained by the Composer as being a grace-note.

From Project Gutenberg