Word.ws English Dictionary

high-key

high-key adjective: characterized by light tones and the absence of a shadow.

high-key: characterized by light tones and the absence of a shadow
Image: Larry D. Moore, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Adjective

high-key (comparative more high-key, superlative most high-key)

  1. Characterized by light tones and the absence of a shadow.
    • Details are tremendously important in composing an outstanding high-key photograph.1942 November, Victor Keppler, “Key to Good Pictures”, in Popular Photography, →ISSN, page 29

Adverb

high-key (comparative more high-key, superlative most high-key)

  1. (colloquial, uncommon) In a conspicuous way.
  2. (Canada, US, colloquial) Used as an intensifier; really.
    • (except in meiosis)
    • I'm highkey pissed at you right now.
    Antonyms:
    low-key

Antonyms of high-key

Forms of high-key

Adjective
comparativemore high-key
superlativemost high-key
alternative formhighkey
alternative formhigh key
alternative formhighk
Adverb
comparativemore high-key
superlativemost high-key

Origin of high-key

From high + key.

Questions about high-key

What does high-key mean?
High-key means characterized by light tones and the absence of a shadow.
What part of speech is high-key?
High-key can be an adjective or an adverb.

Words near high-key in the dictionary

  1. high-jack
  2. high-jimmy-knacker
  3. high-jump
  4. high-jumper
  5. high-jumpers
  6. high-key
  7. high-kilted
  8. high-king
  9. high-kings
  10. high-level
  11. high-level language

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: high-key (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-high-key.oga.

Cite this entry: “high-key.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/high-key. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.