tuneless

adjective

tune·​less ˈtün-ləs How to pronounce tuneless (audio)
ˈtyün-
1
: not tuneful
2
: not producing music
tunelessly adverb

Examples of tuneless in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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 For the rest of the film Jenkins uses animation, vintage clips and a lot of interviews to re-create the whole Biz Markie experience: the raspy voice, the tuneless singing, and the love of anything kitschy, catchy and fun. Noel Murray, Los Angeles Times, 18 Aug. 2023 That baggy, shambling gang of tuneless no-hopers swept along on the glassy-eyed tide of post-acid house euphoria? Jonathan Bernstein, SPIN, 7 June 2023 Rather, his is a voice singing freely in a tuneless land. Madeleine Kearns, National Review, 24 Oct. 2019 The singer's timorous, tuneless falsetto convinced me to put in a bid, but somebody else won the auction for $113.61. Leor Galil, Chicago Reader, 27 June 2018

Word History

First Known Use

1594, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of tuneless was in 1594

Dictionary Entries Near tuneless

Cite this Entry

“Tuneless.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tuneless. Accessed 10 Nov. 2024.

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