Semitone vs. Halftone — What's the Difference?

A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically. It is defined as the interval between two adjacent notes in a 12-tone scale.

Halftone is the reprographic technique that simulates continuous-tone imagery through the use of dots, varying either in size or in spacing, thus generating a gradient-like effect. "Halftone" can also be used to refer specifically to the image that is produced by this process.Where continuous-tone imagery contains an infinite range of colors or greys, the halftone process reduces visual reproductions to an image that is printed with only one color of ink, in dots of differing size (pulse-width modulation) or spacing (frequency modulation) or both.

An interval equal to a half tone in the standard diatonic scale. Also called half step, halftone.

A tone or value halfway between a highlight and a dark shadow.

(music) The musical interval equal (exactly or approximately) to half a tone or one-twelfth of an octave

A picture in which the gradations of light are obtained by the relative darkness and density of tiny dots produced by photographing the subject through a fine screen.

(music) Any of the pitches of the chromatic scale

A picture made by such a process.

Half a tone; - the name commonly applied to the smaller intervals of the diatonic scale.

(Music) See semitone.

The musical interval between adjacent keys on a keyboard instrument

(music) semitone, half the interval between two notes on a scale.

(printing) A picture made by using the process of half-toning.

(arts) An intermediate or middle tone in a painting, engraving, photograph, etc.; a middle tint, neither very dark nor very light.

To reproduce a photograph or other continuous tone image by the use of dots of various sizes.

A print obtained from photoengraving

An engraving used to reproduce an illustration