deviating from the correct tone or pitch; out of tune.
Informal. somewhat irregular, abnormal, or incongruous.
music
not in the correct key
out of tune
out of keeping; discordant
First recorded in 1925–30
Something that's off-key is out of tune or unmusical. If your jazz band is off-key from the first note of their first song, it'll make the audience cringe. You might not care if your friends are off-key when they sing "Happy Birthday" and present you with a chocolate cake, but you may want to get your money back if you buy expensive tickets to hear an orchestra play off-key renditions of Bach and Beethoven. This musical meaning inspired the figurative off-key, meaning "not fitting" or "clashing": "The mayor's big-city values are off-key in our little village."
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He and his comrades were often forced to sing Soviet songs and were punished if they didn't sing "loud enough or sang off-key".
From Barron's • May 8, 2026
After Hegseth gave us his version of news headlines, he performed a brief off-key song and dance before skating out of the room having accomplished little and settling nothing.
From Salon • Mar. 14, 2026
That moment when Jake sings an off-key version of “...Baby One More Time” is “burned into my frontal cortex,” he says.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 20, 2024
True to Caray, it appealed to the masses for being endearingly off-key.
From New York Times • Aug. 4, 2023
People flood into the post office, carrying giant drums and flutes and tubas, blasting a somewhat off-key rendition of that Bruno Mars song “Marry You.”
From "What If It's Us" by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
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.
