low-key
Americanadjective
-
of reduced intensity; restrained; understated.
Judicial elections used to be low-key affairs, attracting little campaign spending.
-
(of a photograph) having chiefly dark tones, usually with little tonal contrast (distinguished from high-key).
adverb
verb (used with object)
adjective
-
having a low intensity or tone
-
restrained, subdued, or understated
-
(of a photograph, painting, etc) having a predominance of dark grey tones or dark colours with few highlights Compare high-key
Usage
What else does low-key mean? Low-key can variously mean "quiet," "restrained," "moderate," or "easygoing." It can also behave as an adverb meaning "of low or moderate intensity." Like doing something, but in a "chill" way. For instance: We're having a party at my place but keeping it low-key so the neighbors don't complain.
Etymology
Origin of low-key
First recorded in 1890–95
Explanation
Something low-key is quiet or understated. A low-key wedding might be held in a friend's backyard, with a potluck reception — it's informal, small, and subdued. A person who's low-key is modest and soft spoken, and a low-key restaurant is comfortable and unpretentious. You might prefer your family's low-key way of celebrating birthdays (a cake and a few gifts) to the way your best friend's family does it (hiring caterers, clowns, magicians, and a band). Low-key can also mean "muted in color," like the low-key tones in your favorite painting.
Vocabulary lists containing low-key
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
For perennial postseason contenders, a splashy offseason ideally sets up a low-key trade deadline.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
British heavyweight Tyson Fury stopped Mariusz Wach in a low-key bout in Thailand to keep a potential blockbuster fight with Anthony Joshua on track.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
Other notable fans have been more low-key in their support.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
A 2023 victory over Troy Williamson should have been Agyarko's springboard to bigger fights but it proved little more than a prelude to a frustrating 12 months with just one low-key outing.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
There were a few low-key rides, and a game in which players threw tennis balls at papier-mâché likenesses of Idi Amin and Richard Nixon.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
The ensemble, Saturday Review music critic Irving Kolodin wrote at the time, began to make “a quiet noise in jazz circles, attracting attention not by flamboyance and flash but by a low-keyed tonal production.”
From Washington Post ● Apr. 16, 2023
Dershowitz said Cipollone “brings great judgment and lawyerly skills to the defense of President Trump. He’s very calibrated, very low-keyed and has excellent judgment. It’s exactly what’s needed.”
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 14, 2020
Nevertheless, Harriott’s tone was more low-keyed than the one he’d adopted before the Booker T. game.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 1, 2017
Or maybe it will be Pharrell Williams, who low-keyed his way to scoring a much-coveted singer Monday, a vocalist Levine called “the greatest singer in the show’s history and the most beautiful.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2015
Eve de Montalais laughed the charming, low-keyed laugh of a happily diverted woman.
From Alias the Lone Wolf by Vance, Louis Joseph
But is this John holding his cards close to the vest or is Glover merely low-keying his way through this performance, as he's done in other shows?
From Salon ● Feb. 2, 2024
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
