How to Use off-key in a Sentence

off-key

adjective or adverb

• His swan song was often off-key.
  — Andrew Knoll, Daily News, 26 Apr. 2026
• Warming up, Smith throws back his head and belts Bieber lyrics, joyfully off-key.
  — Sam Kestenbaum, Vulture, 2 Jan. 2026
• Singing off-key, dancing around, and grabbing a slice of pizza before heading out kept her in high spirits.
  — Larry Stansbury, Essence, 19 Sep. 2025
• Nobody wants to be subjected to one more triggering, off-key note of an Edwin Díaz dirge.
  — Mirjam Swanson, Los Angeles Times, 14 Aug. 2026
• With proper training, employees learned to spot telltale signs like off-key speech or conflicting information.
  — Steve Piper, Forbes.com, 18 Feb. 2026
• Should you ever get distracted by such off-key turns, however, the film is quick to directly remind you which other movies it’s supposed to remind you of.
  — Guy Lodge, Variety, 18 June 2026
• And broadcasting your irritation too loudly risks ruining the atmosphere for everyone else just as much as their yelling or off-key chants.
  — Mary Catherine McAnnally Scott, Southern Living, 6 Sep. 2025
• Forbidden Compass feels bafflingly out of touch and off-key, with the flavor of supermarket own-brand cornflakes.
  — Caspar Salmon, Variety, 5 Sep. 2026
• The parody came in a chaotic birthday party sketch where Carpenter and her friends told a story through intentionally off-key performances.
  — Bryan West, Nashville Tennessean, 23 Oct. 2025
• Yet in subsequent editions, the Muirs, or perhaps their publishers, rejected that suitably plain title and replaced it with the storied but off-key Metamorphosis.
  — Mark Harman august 8, Literary Hub, 8 Aug. 2025
• Nilsson’s watercolors complemented the work of the Hairy Who while also being slightly off-key; imagine the same hectic ragtime played on a calliope instead of a piano.
  — Jeremy Lybarger, Artforum, 2 June 2026
• That game became a cult hit for its hilarious simulations of everyday life, complete with Miis singing off-key, forming odd relationships and generating endless memes.
  — Jason Bennett, Arkansas Online, 24 May 2026
• Gran’s butter yellow Cadillac was a welcome surprise in the school carpool line, her slightly off-key singing voice kept me entertained in the church pews on Sunday morning, and her dining room table was the joyful location of many family celebrations.
  — Brennan Long, Southern Living, 29 Nov. 2025
• Additionally, Sanville and Freeman’s co-mingling vocals were, depending on the moment, complementary in their harmony or shredded in their screaming, without screeching into off-key territory.
  — William Earl, Variety, 12 Nov. 2025
• By 1988, when Phantom debuted on Broadway, the Reagan-era consumer culture and flashy opulence were on their way out, so the ornate, maximalist sets and the lush orchestrations felt off-key to reviewers.
  — Angelica Frey, JSTOR Daily, 20 Aug. 2026
• The sketch centers on Kelsey (Chloe Fineman), whose affair with Domingo (Marcello Hernandez) is revealed to her husband, Matt (Andrew Dismukes), via a group of off-key girl friends.
  — Ted Johnson, Deadline, 18 Oct. 2025