APOT'OMY, n. [Gr. to cut off.] 1. In mathematics, the difference between two incommensurable quantities.2. In music, that portion of a tone major which remains after deducting from it an interval, less by a comma, than a semitone major.The difference between a greater and lesser semitone, expressed by the ratio 128; 125. The Greeks supposing the greater tone could not be divided into two equal parts, called the difference, or smaller part, apotome; the other, limma.
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