off-key
adjective
deviating from the correct tone or pitch; out of tune.
off-key
American
[awf-kee, of-]
/ ˈɔfˈki, ˈɒf- /
adjective
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deviating from the correct tone or pitch; out of tune.
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Informal. somewhat irregular, abnormal, or incongruous.
off key
British
adjective
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music
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not in the correct key
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out of tune
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-
out of keeping; discordant
Etymology
Origin of off-key
First recorded in 1925–30
Explanation
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."
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.
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
Interspersed with footage of Grande and Erivo were clips of Ludacris, Rob Gronkowski, Shaquille O’Neal, Gayle King, Ken Jeong, Heidi Klum and Khloe Kardashian submitting tounge-in-cheek “audition” tapes, many with off-key singing.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 7, 2025
Amid all of this, responses from the administration were sometimes glaringly off-key.
From BBC • Jan. 12, 2025
These songs look and feel like old-Hollywood-style musical numbers, but charm because of their imperfections; characters sing off-key, they lose their breath and their voices crack.
From Salon • Dec. 7, 2024
Of a few days before, when Liam had been in the driver’s seat, singing along to Derek and the Dominos’ “Layla” at the top of his lungs, so off-key that it had even Chubs laughing.
From "The Darkest Minds" by Alexandra Bracken
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.
