as in shrill
marked by or producing a harsh combination of sounds
a very unmusical chorus of squawks from the angry ravens
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Recent Examples of unmusical
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, 3 Oct. 2019
Paradoxically, then, the man most involved in the development of the electric guitar was the unmusical Leo Fender.
—David Kirby, WSJ, 17 Jan. 2019
The controversy of Schoenberg’s serialist works—the overwhelming reaction to them as ugly, nightmarish, simply unmusical—shows how firmly tonality had come to condition habits of listening.
—Paul Grimstad, The New Republic, 21 June 2018
Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 18 Dec. 2023
His parents were unmusical Russian-Jewish immigrants who ran various businesses with mixed success.
—The Economist, 3 Oct. 2019
Paradoxically, then, the man most involved in the development of the electric guitar was the unmusical Leo Fender.
—David Kirby, WSJ, 17 Jan. 2019
The controversy of Schoenberg’s serialist works—the overwhelming reaction to them as ugly, nightmarish, simply unmusical—shows how firmly tonality had come to condition habits of listening.
—Paul Grimstad, The New Republic, 21 June 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unmusical
Adjective
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Some cymbal hits came across as slightly shrill thanks to the high-mid emphasis.—
Christian de Looper,
PC Magazine,
23 Mar. 2026
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And each dares to honor the humanity in characters often reduced to predators and prey by one faction, shrill social justice warriors and brave free thinkers by another.—
Judy Berman,
Time,
5 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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In choosing to abstain from noisy pedal effects and clanging cymbals, Landowner whip up far more entrancing patterns that thrive in the tidiness.—
Nina Corcoran,
Pitchfork,
24 Mar. 2026
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The system also remained stable when trained on limited or noisy datasets.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
24 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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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
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The contrast of the narrative established by the plates is comparable to jazz music, with its rhythm and repetition broken up by unexpected and sometimes dissonant improvisations, the Art Institute said.—
Adam Harrington,
CBS News,
3 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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That said, whole-virus vaccines can cause more unpleasant side effects, and in rare cases, weakened live pathogens can redevelop infectious capability.—
Meghan Bartels,
Scientific American,
27 Mar. 2026
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Like, what would make this already unpleasant environment even spicier?—
Mikey O'Connell,
HollywoodReporter,
27 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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The other form, metallic palladium (Pd⁰), takes over afterward, hydrogenating the resulting fragments into stable compounds like cyclohexanol and cyclohexane.—
Rupendra Brahambhatt,
Interesting Engineering,
29 Mar. 2026
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Something else that supports the hypothesis that recent meteors have been larger than usual is the prevalence of sonic booms — loud, explosive sounds caused by shockwaves when meteoroids, small rocky or metallic bodies from space, penetrate deeper into the Earth's atmosphere than usual.—
Jamie Carter,
Space.com,
27 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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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
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For sixteen hours a week, Valentine hopes to share some melody in a place that, for some, can feel inharmonious.—
Washington Post,
Washington Post,
24 July 2021
Adjective
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Miami Music Week is at its zenith this weekend, its cacophonous diversions and decibels aimed at the spring break crowd and other ears that haven’t been around for very long, highlighted by the DJ bonfire known as Ultra Music Festival.—
Ben Crandell,
Sun Sentinel,
25 Mar. 2026
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Chiang Mai's postcard sights, including the gilded temples in the Old Town and the cacophonous Warorot Market, require a 15-minute taxi ride.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
17 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Unmusical.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unmusical. Accessed 2 Apr. 2026.
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