as in tuneless
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Recent Examples of off-key
Warming up, Smith throws back his head and belts Bieber lyrics, joyfully off-key.
—
Sam Kestenbaum, Vulture, 2 Jan. 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
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
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
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
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
Sam Kestenbaum, Vulture, 2 Jan. 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
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
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
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
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for off-key
Adjective
-
Her aesthetics and tuneless vocals left audiences in awe and laughter.—
Raquel Willis,
Time,
19 June 2025
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For the rest of us, a real musical comedy is a cause for celebration; most are either too tuneless to be musicals or too dull to be comedies.—
Jesse Green,
New York Times,
11 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Then, in 2015, the artist Robin Rhode chose Times Square on a Saturday night as the site for his interpretation of a slow-motion, atonal Arnold Schönberg opera.—
Rachel Corbett,
Curbed,
22 Dec. 2025
-
Other cuts start as pop songs before crashing into atonal messes and freak rock chaos.—
Jed Gottlieb,
Boston Herald,
13 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Using a speaker outside the stall results in reverb and echoing as the music bounces around the bathroom walls, making the sound muddy and unpleasant.—
BestReviews,
Chicago Tribune,
8 Jan. 2026
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Given the lack of gravity, even a runny nose can turn into an extremely unpleasant experience, forcing astronauts to resort to unusual measures just to drain mucus from their nasal passages.—
Victor Tangermann,
Futurism,
8 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
My favorite movie of the year is a disagreeable but highly entertaining tale as exhausting as today’s politics with characters nobody could possibly root for.—
John Waters,
Vulture,
3 Dec. 2025
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Over the weekend, reports emerged that the higher tariffs followed a disagreeable Thursday phone call between Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter and Trump — which Swiss officials rejected, according to Reuters.—
Sophie Kiderlin,Jenni Reid,
CNBC,
4 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Off-key.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/off-key. Accessed 29 Jan. 2026.
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