off-key

adjective

Definition of off-keynext
as in tuneless

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Examples Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for off-key
  1. tuneless
  2. atonal
  3. unpleasant
  4. disagreeable
Adjective
  • Fletcher’s thrumming, didgeridoo voice—violently tuneless when singing and melodic in speech—is a counterpoint to Fliakos’s light, almost nasal timbre; Niall Cunningham and Andrew Maillet, as the President’s assistants, are their balancing male pair.
    Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, 13 Apr. 2024
  • Winfrey’s musical reworking of The Color Purple is essentially tuneless and unpleasant.
    Armond White, National Review, 3 Jan. 2024
Definition of tuneless
Adjective
  • The atmosphere is enhanced by the hand-in-hand elements of Damian Volpe’s heavy soundscape and Robin Carolan’s moody score, which ranges from symphonic grandeur to agitato strings, pipes and horns specific to the region at that time to queasy atonal groans.
    David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 2 Dec. 2024
  • Ives’s legendary status initially rested on his reputation as a maverick pioneer who supposedly had beaten Schoenberg in the race to the atonal pole.
    Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 4 Nov. 2024
Definition of atonal
Adjective
  • Good palliative care can ensure that patients avoid unpleasant breathlessness, pain, nausea, and other symptoms.
    Mark Taubert, Newsweek, 20 Dec. 2024
  • At the same time, however, many people described unpleasant feelings associated with December.
    Madeline Fitzgerald, Quartz, 19 Dec. 2024
Definition of unpleasant
Adjective
  • Sometimes that means confronting disagreeable people.
    David Plazas, The Tennessean, 24 Apr. 2024
  • The most important reason to avoid obsessing over China’s disagreeable regime, however, is that this fixation threatens a core U.S. advantage: Washington’s wide network of partners and allies.
    Evan S. Medeiros, Foreign Affairs, 8 July 2021
Definition of disagreeable
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Thesaurus Entries Near off-key

offish

off-key

off-kilter

See More Nearby Entries 

Cite this Entry

“Off-key.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/off-key. Accessed 30 Dec. 2024.

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