classical
of, relating to, or characteristic of Greek and Roman antiquity: classical literature;classical languages.
conforming to ancient Greek and Roman models in literature or art, or to later systems modeled upon them.
marked by classicism: classical simplicity.
Music.
of, relating to, or constituting the formally and artistically more sophisticated and enduring types of music, as distinguished from popular and folk music and jazz. Classical music includes symphonies, operas, sonatas, song cycles, and lieder.
of, pertaining to, characterized by, or adhering to the well-ordered, chiefly homophonic musical style of the latter half of the 18th and the early 19th centuries: Haydn and Mozart are classical composers.
Architecture.
noting or pertaining to the architecture of ancient Greece and Rome, especially the religious and public architecture, characterized by the employment of orders.: Compare order (def. 27b).
noting or pertaining to any of several styles of architecture closely imitating the architecture of ancient Greece or Rome; neoclassic.
noting or pertaining to architectural details or motifs adapted from ancient Greek or Roman models.
(of an architectural design) simple, reposeful, well-proportioned, or symmetrical in a manner suggesting the architecture of ancient Greece and Rome.
(often initial capital letter) pertaining to or designating the style of fine arts, especially painting and sculpture, developed in Greece during the 5th and 4th centuries b.c., chiefly characterized by balanced composition, the separation of figures from an architectural background, and the naturalistic rendering of anatomical details, spatial movement, and distribution of weight in a figure.: Compare archaic (def. 4), Hellenistic (def. 5).
of or relating to a style of literature and art characterized by conformity to established treatments, taste, or critical standards, and by attention to form with the general effect of regularity, simplicity, balance, proportion, and controlled emotion (contrasted with romantic).
pertaining to or versed in the ancient classics: a classical scholar.
relating to or teaching academic branches of knowledge, as the humanities, general sciences, etc., as distinguished from technical subjects.
(of a given field of knowledge) accepted as standard and authoritative, as distinguished from novel or experimental: classical physics.
Ecclesiastical. pertaining to a classis.
classical music: a jazz pianist who studied classical for years.
Origin of classical
1Other words from classical
- clas·si·cal·i·ty, clas·si·cal·ness, noun
- clas·si·cal·ly, adverb
- an·ti·clas·si·cal, adjective
- an·ti·clas·si·cal·ly, adverb
- an·ti·clas·si·cal·ness, noun
- hy·per·clas·si·cal, adjective
- hy·per·clas·si·cal·i·ty, noun
- non·clas·si·cal·i·ty, noun
- pre·clas·si·cal, adjective
- pre·clas·si·cal·ly, adverb
- pro·clas·si·cal, adjective
- qua·si-clas·si·cal·ly, adverb
Words that may be confused with classical
- classic, classical
Words Nearby classical
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use classical in a sentence
Vaccines aren’t supposed to work like that, though, at least according to classical immunology.
‘Trained Immunity’ Offers Hope in Fight Against Coronavirus | Esther Landhuis | September 14, 2020 | Quanta MagazineA quantum Internet would be based on a network of quantum computers, a buzzy class of calculating machines that offers advantages over classical computers, like the one you’re reading this article on.
U.S. vies for leadership in quantum and A.I. with $1 billion bet | rhhackettfortune | August 26, 2020 | FortuneI’m not sure we’re going to see your classical second wave, like in 1918.
Conventional computers — which physicists call classical computers to distinguish them from the quantum variety — are resistant to errors.
To live up to the hype, quantum computers must repair their error problems | Emily Conover | June 22, 2020 | Science NewsFor classical computers, correcting errors, if they do occur, is straightforward.
To live up to the hype, quantum computers must repair their error problems | Emily Conover | June 22, 2020 | Science News
Stephanie Giorgio, a classical musician, credits The Class for helping her cope with anxiety, focus, fear, and self-doubt.
How Taryn Toomey’s ‘The Class’ Became New York’s Latest Fitness Craze | Lizzie Crocker | January 9, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTFor Kirke it was being paid to pretend to play the oboe that heightened her affair with classical music.
‘Mozart in the Jungle’: Inside Amazon’s Brave New World of Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music | Kevin Fallon | December 23, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTSince filming the show, however, her relationship with classical music has obviously changed.
‘Mozart in the Jungle’: Inside Amazon’s Brave New World of Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music | Kevin Fallon | December 23, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTSo she was an aficionado of classical music, for soundtracks or otherwise?
‘Mozart in the Jungle’: Inside Amazon’s Brave New World of Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music | Kevin Fallon | December 23, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAnd it goes beyond getting my teeth drilled at the dentist office—my dentist really likes classical music.
‘Mozart in the Jungle’: Inside Amazon’s Brave New World of Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music | Kevin Fallon | December 23, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThis was a vast building of classical design, resembling a Grecian temple.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3) | Charles James WillsHence the danger—ever to be avoided—of using classical allusions in teaching the average student.
Assimilative Memory | Marcus Dwight Larrowe (AKA Prof. A. Loisette)The place he put it in was—er—a little below golf and a little above classical concerts.
First Plays | A. A. MilneBesides his work for Zarembas classes, Tchaikovsky devoted many hours to the study of the classical composers.
The Life & Letters of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky | Modeste TchaikovskyThe General Assembly encouraged the establishment of classical schools and academies via revenue secured from lotteries.
Hallowed Heritage: The Life of Virginia | Dorothy M. Torpey
British Dictionary definitions for classical
/ (ˈklæsɪkəl) /
of, relating to, or characteristic of the ancient Greeks and Romans or their civilization, esp in the period of their ascendancy
designating, following, or influenced by the art or culture of ancient Greece or Rome: classical architecture
music
of, relating to, or denoting any music or its period of composition marked by stability of form, intellectualism, and restraint: Compare romantic (def. 5)
accepted as a standard: the classical suite
denoting serious art music in general: Compare pop 1 (def. 2)
music of or relating to a style of music composed, esp at Vienna, during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. This period is marked by the establishment, esp by Haydn and Mozart, of sonata form
denoting or relating to a style in any of the arts characterized by emotional restraint and conservatism: a classical style of painting See classicism (def. 1)
well versed in the art and literature of ancient Greece and Rome
(of an education) based on the humanities and the study of Latin and Greek
physics
not involving the quantum theory or the theory of relativity: classical mechanics
obeying the laws of Newtonian mechanics or 19th-century physics: a classical gas
another word for classic (def. 2), classic (def. 4)
(of a logical or mathematical system) according with the law of excluded middle, so that every statement is known to be either true or false even if it is not known which
Derived forms of classical
- classicality or classicalness, noun
- classically, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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