as in shrill
marked by or producing a harsh combination of sounds
I awoke to the unmelodious clatter of jackhammers at the construction site next door
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unmelodious
Adjective
-
On shrill winter nights, Moscow’s power is conspicuous, its Orthodox cathedrals and Stalinist high-rises illuminated, though the view falls dim in the autumn and spring, shrouded in sheets of greige.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Apr. 2026 -
The chaos is still an acceptable price to pay for Birney’s expertly offputting performance, a shrill mania that gets increasingly comic over time.—
Alison Herman,
Variety,
26 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Those songs remind Omara of real people and real events, political interludes whose senselessness and brutality have left unmusical lacunae in her life.—
Vinson Cunningham,
The New Yorker,
18 Dec. 2023
-
His parents were unmusical Russian-Jewish immigrants who ran various businesses with mixed success.—
The Economist,
The Economist,
3 Oct. 2019
Adjective
-
Around 5,000 people reside in the town, give or take the shifting sub-population of soldiers from the Japanese Self-Defense Forces who ship in and out for noisy munitions drills in the mountains nearby.—
Leslie Felperin,
HollywoodReporter,
13 May 2026
-
Poor-quality headphones that skimp on noise cancellation, battery life, or comfortability can quickly turn a noisy flight into an absolute nightmare.—
Amelia McBride,
Travel + Leisure,
13 May 2026
Adjective
-
Eisenberg plays a lot of acoustic guitar, sticks mostly to normie chords, and largely avoids dissonant tangles, opting for a bright, translucent sound.—
Reed Jackson,
SPIN,
6 Apr. 2026
-
The Brooklyn psych-folk artist’s 2025 debut, newly reissued by AD 93, is dissonant, ghostly, and otherworldly, summoning complex emotions with sparse tools.—
Vrinda Jagota,
Pitchfork,
19 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Place a bowl of coffee grounds in the offending area (or, in the case of your shoes, place dry grounds in an old sock or cloth tied up and leave overnight inside the shoe) and let the grounds absorb unpleasant odors, says Rocky Vuong, founder of Calibre Cleaning Unlimited.—
Alexandra Kelly,
Martha Stewart,
9 May 2026
-
Years later, the teenaged Daughter lets in a woman from the outside, which causes chaos in their relationship and reveals some unpleasant secrets.—
K. Thor Jensen,
PC Magazine,
8 May 2026
Adjective
-
Tuesday evening’s event didn’t devolve into the chaos of a cacophonous debate last week but was far livelier than a relatively sleepy one last month.—
Ben Paviour
May 6,
Sacbee.com,
6 May 2026
-
Yet a cacophonous encore is now playing across the South after a Supreme Court ruling last week.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
6 May 2026
Adjective
-
Plants add stunning texture and shining color to the garden with metallic, lavender-blue bracts surrounding flowers that stand erect on purple stems.—
Kim Toscano,
Southern Living,
10 May 2026
-
Mishra placed metallic embroidery in irregular vine-like sections down the skirt, heavier at the front panels and hem, with small crystal dots scattered through the tulle.—
Maggie Clancy,
Footwear News,
10 May 2026
Adjective
-
Jesus proved over and over again the all-encompassing authority of God, which destroys all inharmonious conditions, including sin and disease.—
Thomas Mitchinson,
Christian Science Monitor,
30 Sep. 2025
-
Setting Discordant Personal Goals A 2023 study published in Current Psychology finds that partners’ inharmonious goals can have detrimental effects on relationships.—
Mark Travers,
Forbes,
29 Mar. 2024
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.
Cite this Entry
“Unmelodious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unmelodious. Accessed 18 May. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
