classical

[ klas-i-kuhl ]

/ ˈklæs ɪ kəl /

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See synonyms for: classical / classicals / classicality on Thesaurus.com

adjective

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.

classic (defs. 1-5, 8, 10).

Ecclesiastical. pertaining to a classis.

noun

classical music: a jazz pianist who studied classical for years.

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Origin of classical

First recorded in 1580–90; classic + -al¹

OTHER WORDS FROM classical

clas·si·cal·i·ty, clas·si·cal·ness, nounclas·si·cal·ly, adverban·ti·clas·si·cal, adjectivean·ti·clas·si·cal·ly, adverb

an·ti·clas·si·cal·ness, nounhy·per·clas·si·cal, adjectivehy·per·clas·si·cal·i·ty, nounnon·clas·si·cal·i·ty, nounpre·clas·si·cal, adjectivepre·clas·si·cal·ly, adverbpro·clas·si·cal, adjectivequa·si-clas·si·cal·ly, adverb

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH classical

classic, classical

Words nearby classical

class conflict, class-conscious, class consciousness, class day, classic, classical, classical antiquity, Classical Armenian, Classical Chinese, classical college, classical conditioning

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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 Magazine
A 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|Fortune
I’m not sure we’re going to see your classical second wave, like in 1918.
Stockholm Syndrome|Tate Ryan-Mosley|August 19, 2020|MIT Technology Review
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 News

For 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|DAILY BEAST
For 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|DAILY BEAST
Since 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|DAILY BEAST
So 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|DAILY BEAST
And 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|DAILY BEAST
This was a vast building of classical design, resembling a Grecian temple.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3)|Charles James Wills
Hence 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. Milne
Besides his work for Zarembas classes, Tchaikovsky devoted many hours to the study of the classical composers.
The Life & Letters of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky|Modeste Tchaikovsky
The 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

classical

/ (ˈklæsɪkəl) /

adjective

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 Romeclassical architecture

music

of, relating to, or denoting any music or its period of composition marked by stability of form, intellectualism, and restraintCompare romantic (def. 5)
accepted as a standardthe classical suite
denoting serious art music in generalCompare 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 conservatisma 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 relativityclassical mechanics
obeying the laws of Newtonian mechanics or 19th-century physicsa 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, nounclassically, 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

classical

Origin of classical

OTHER WORDS FROM classical

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH classical

Words nearby classical

Words related to classical

How to use classical in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for classical

Derived forms of classical