Word.ws English Dictionary

off-key

off-key adjective: above or below the correct note sequence; especially a vocalist out of sync with a separately recorded musical accompaniment.

Adjective

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

  1. Above or below the correct note sequence; especially a vocalist out of sync with a separately recorded musical accompaniment
  2. (broadly) Not harmonious, or out of accord.

Adverb

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

  1. Being an inaccurate note sequence that is either above or below where it is intended to be.
    • 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 me1937, “They Can't Take That Away from Me”, Ira Gershwin (lyrics), George Gershwin (music)

off-key meaning in Malayalam

off-key in Malayalam

tuneless, out of tune, flat
താളം തെറ്റിയ, ഈണമില്ലാത്ത, രാഗമില്ലാത്ത, ഏകരീതിയായ, ശ്രുതിഭംഗിയില്ലാത്ത, സ്വരച്ചേർച്ചയില്ലാത്ത
inappropriate, incongruous, unsuitable
പൊരുത്തമില്ലാത്ത, യോജിച്ചതല്ലാത്ത, സമുചിതമല്ലാത്ത, ചേരാത്ത, അനുയോജ്യമല്ലാത്ത, പറ്റാത്ത

Forms of off-key

Adjective
comparativemore off-key
superlativemost off-key
Adverb
comparativemore off-key
superlativemost off-key

Questions about off-key

What does off-key mean?
Off-key means above or below the correct note sequence; especially a vocalist out of sync with a separately recorded musical accompaniment.
What is off-key in Malayalam?
Off-key in Malayalam is താളം തെറ്റിയ, ഈണമില്ലാത്ത, രാഗമില്ലാത്ത. See Off-key meaning in Malayalam.
What part of speech is off-key?
Off-key can be an adjective or an adverb.

Words near off-key in the dictionary

  1. off-hours
  2. off-ice
  3. off-island
  4. off-islander
  5. off-islanders
  6. off-key
  7. off-kilter
  8. off-label
  9. off-lease
  10. off-leash
  11. off-licence

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: off-key (page history and authors); off-key (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). 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:

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