as in atonal
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Recent Examples of tuneless
Her aesthetics and tuneless vocals left audiences in awe and laughter.
—
Raquel Willis, Time, 19 June 2025
For the rest of us, a real musical comedy is a cause for celebration; most are either too tuneless to be musicals or too dull to be comedies.
—Jesse Green, New York Times, 11 Apr. 2025
Luka Dončić made his Lakers debut Monday, Feb. 10, in a comfortable home win against the tuneless Utah Jazz.
—Steven Louis Goldstein, The Athletic, 12 Feb. 2025
Fletcher’s thrumming, didgeridoo voice—violently tuneless when singing and melodic in speech—is a counterpoint to Fliakos’s light, almost nasal timbre; Niall Cunningham and Andrew Maillet, as the President’s assistants, are their balancing male pair.
—Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, 13 Apr. 2024
Winfrey’s musical reworking of The Color Purple is essentially tuneless and unpleasant.
—Armond White, National Review, 3 Jan. 2024
For the rest of the film Jenkins uses animation, vintage clips and a lot of interviews to re-create the whole Biz Markie experience: the raspy voice, the tuneless singing, and the love of anything kitschy, catchy and fun.
—Noel Murray, Los Angeles Times, 18 Aug. 2023
That baggy, shambling gang of tuneless no-hopers swept along on the glassy-eyed tide of post-acid house euphoria?
—Jonathan Bernstein, SPIN, 7 June 2023
Rather, his is a voice singing freely in a tuneless land.
—Madeleine Kearns, National Review, 24 Oct. 2019
Raquel Willis, Time, 19 June 2025
For the rest of us, a real musical comedy is a cause for celebration; most are either too tuneless to be musicals or too dull to be comedies.
—Jesse Green, New York Times, 11 Apr. 2025
Luka Dončić made his Lakers debut Monday, Feb. 10, in a comfortable home win against the tuneless Utah Jazz.
—Steven Louis Goldstein, The Athletic, 12 Feb. 2025
Fletcher’s thrumming, didgeridoo voice—violently tuneless when singing and melodic in speech—is a counterpoint to Fliakos’s light, almost nasal timbre; Niall Cunningham and Andrew Maillet, as the President’s assistants, are their balancing male pair.
—Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, 13 Apr. 2024
Winfrey’s musical reworking of The Color Purple is essentially tuneless and unpleasant.
—Armond White, National Review, 3 Jan. 2024
For the rest of the film Jenkins uses animation, vintage clips and a lot of interviews to re-create the whole Biz Markie experience: the raspy voice, the tuneless singing, and the love of anything kitschy, catchy and fun.
—Noel Murray, Los Angeles Times, 18 Aug. 2023
That baggy, shambling gang of tuneless no-hopers swept along on the glassy-eyed tide of post-acid house euphoria?
—Jonathan Bernstein, SPIN, 7 June 2023
Rather, his is a voice singing freely in a tuneless land.
—Madeleine Kearns, National Review, 24 Oct. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tuneless
Adjective
-
With Stires’s guidance, Anastasio began writing atonal fugues.—
Amanda Petrusich,
New Yorker,
14 Apr. 2025
-
Gradually, the music mutates into something more alien: off-key chiming of a clock, percussive piano clanking and plucking, atonal saxophone solos that sound as if an instrument is being dropped.—
Fran Hoepfner,
Vulture,
27 Feb. 2025
Adjective
-
Tribalism can and does spill over into much more unpleasant areas, from basic name-calling to more insidious abuse.—
Nick Miller,
New York Times,
1 Aug. 2025
-
Disruptions in the ratio, like when there’s too much estrogen vs. testosterone, can cause unpleasant symptoms like weight gain, mood swings, and fatigue.—
Caitlin Pagán,
Verywell Health,
1 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
Trump and his supporters prefer a happy history, a pleasant history that arouses patriotism by overlooking disagreeable people and despicable events that sully the nation’s reputation and mar the magnificence of the American story.—
William C. Hine,
Twin Cities,
23 July 2025
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Marina’s imperious grandmother (Marina Troncoso) is a disagreeable snob, more concerned with getting a mani-pedi or keeping leaves out of her precious swimming pool than getting to know her granddaughter.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
3 Sep. 2019
Adjective
-
While democratic Taiwan has long been used to those threats, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the increasingly shrill rhetoric from Chinese leader Xi Jinping and conflict in the Middle East have thrown into sharp relief what could be at stake if peace falters.—
Will Ripley,
CNN Money,
17 July 2025
-
With the start of the invasion in 2022, Mironov dropped that charade and became one of the shrillest cheerleaders for Putin and the war.—
Simon Shuster,
Time,
17 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Tuneless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tuneless. Accessed 5 Aug. 2025.
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