passing note

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A note that connects two consonant pitches by stepwise motion and usually occurs on a weak beat.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun In music, an unessential or discordant tone melodically combined with harmonically essential tones, either between them or next above or below them. Such accessory tones are usually unaccented.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a nonharmonic note inserted for transition between harmonic notes