off-key Hear it!

off-key Definition

off·-key (ôf′kē′)

adjective

  1. not on the right note; flat or sharp
  2. not quite in accord with what is normal, fitting, etc.

off-key Usage Examples

Modifying Another Word

  • slightly: The hammer was changed but the crack remains - and gives the distinctive, slightly off-key, tone that we hear today from.. .
  • rather: There were drunks going down the Lane yelling Glory Glory Man United rather off-key.
  • little: Coward's song a little off-key by Paul Taylor in The Independent, 5th.

Used with adjective complement

  • sing: False relation: Your bad twin who sings off-key.
  • sound: But he had not quite so much fun when the vehicle started slowing and the engine started sounding rather off-key.

Modifies a noun

  • vocal: Coyne's cracked, off-key vocals are the final piece in the jigsaw, lending their songs a rare emotional power.
  • singing: The words are sung to piano accompaniment and if you like clever and weird off-key singing this is the piece for you.
off-key Quotes

This is not a book in the ordinary sense of the word. No, this is a prolonged insult, a gob of spit inthe face of Art, a kick in the pants to God, Man, Destiny,Time, Love, Beauty†what you will. I am going to sing for you, a little off-key perhaps, but I will sing.

—Miller, Henry Valentine

The way your smile just beams The way you sing off key The way you haunt my dreams No, no! They can't take that away from me!

—Gershwin, Ira originally Israel Gershowitz