as in atonal
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Recent Examples of tuneless
Her aesthetics and tuneless vocals left audiences in awe and laughter.
—
Raquel Willis, Time, 19 June 2025
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
Luka Dončić made his Lakers debut Monday, Feb. 10, in a comfortable home win against the tuneless Utah Jazz.
—Steven Louis Goldstein, The Athletic, 12 Feb. 2025
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
Raquel Willis, Time, 19 June 2025
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
Luka Dončić made his Lakers debut Monday, Feb. 10, in a comfortable home win against the tuneless Utah Jazz.
—Steven Louis Goldstein, The Athletic, 12 Feb. 2025
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tuneless
Adjective
-
With Stires’s guidance, Anastasio began writing atonal fugues.—
Amanda Petrusich,
New Yorker,
14 Apr. 2025
-
Gradually, the music mutates into something more alien: off-key chiming of a clock, percussive piano clanking and plucking, atonal saxophone solos that sound as if an instrument is being dropped.—
Fran Hoepfner,
Vulture,
27 Feb. 2025
Adjective
-
Diana, for example, when anything unpleasant was said in her presence, would slowly blink her eyes in an incredible act of denial.—
Rosemary Counter,
Time,
25 June 2025
-
Some of these vitamins have quality issues, like a fishy or unpleasant taste.—
BestReviews,
Mercury News,
25 June 2025
Adjective
-
Befriending Cressida Cowper is a respectable exercise in recognizing biases, but the pair’s interactions are as disagreeable as those bangs.—
Zoe Haylock,
Vulture,
16 May 2024
-
If Alex has a bit more credibility, not being as intractable in her positions, both have a tendency to come off as disagreeable in their incessant bickering and self-righteousness.—
Charles McNulty,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
The orchestration is a touch grotesque, with the first violins given a shrill D two octaves above middle C.—
Alex Ross,
New Yorker,
23 June 2025
-
Still, the shrill alarm that echoed on Friday morning as Israel announced airstrikes on neighboring Iran gave her that familiar feeling.—
Isabel Rivera,
Miami Herald,
15 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Tuneless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tuneless. Accessed 9 Jul. 2025.
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