unmelodiousadj.
/(ˌ)ʌnmᵻˈləʊdɪəs/, U.S. /ˌənməˈloʊdiəs/ Not melodious.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > [adjective] > inharmonious or unmelodious
discordanta1425
jarring1552
dissonant1573
tuneless1595
discordous1597
immelodious1601
discord1606
absurd1617
unharmoniousa1634
scrannel1638
unmelodious1665
disharmonious1683
disharmonical1688
unharmonic1694
dissonous1715
inharmonious1715
disconsonant1731
anti-musical1824
ear-sore1859
tin-kettley1862
cacophonous1867
unnoted1867
callithumpian1886
tinny1904
crunchy1959
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > unpleasant quality > harsh or discordant quality > [adjective] > making harsh or discordant sound
hoarsec1369
ganglinga1398
roughlyc1400
rauk?a1425
rustyc1430
hask?1440
savagea1450
raw1474
hoar?a1505
harsh1530
untunable1545
jarring1552
jarry1582
barking1589
absonant1600
wrangling1608
raucous1615
asper1626
streperous1637
scrannel1638
caterwaulinga1652
unmelodious1665
jangling1667
latrant1702
untuneful1709
raucid1730
unharmonious1742
unmelodized1771
unmelodic1823
raucal1826
rauque1845
raspish1847
serratic1859
jangled1874
jangly1891
amelodic1937
1665 T. Herbert Some Years Trav. (new ed.) 182 The unmelodious noise of the braying mules.
1748 J. Thomson Castle of Indolence ii. lxxxi Of barking dogs the bitter throng Makes them renew their unmelodious moan.
1777 R. Potter tr. Æschylus Persians in tr. Æschylus Tragedies 512 Rude strains, that unmelodious flow.
1808 W. Scott Marmion vi. Introd. 303 If unmelodious was the song, It was a hearty note.
1871 C. Darwin Descent of Man II. ii. xiii. 55 Even the unmelodious sparrow has learnt to sing like a linnet.
1906 N.Z. Truth 10 Mar. 1 ‘Sing a song of sixpence.’ That is the unmelodious chant of the beer-chewer.
1969 K.-H. Scheer & W. Ernsting Radiant Dome i. i. 10 In rather loud and unmelodious tones he heard a sarcastic statement.
2013 Times Educ. Suppl. 30 Aug. 4 The country's most curmudgeonly union has the world's most unmelodious acronym: NASUWT.
Derivatives
unmeˈlodiously adv.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > unpleasant quality > harsh or discordant quality > [adverb]
rudelya1375
untunably1504
hoarselya1529
jarringly1583
harshly1599
unmusically1609
disharmoniously1664
hoarse1709
unmelodiously1739
unharmoniously1783
raucously1852
raggedly1854
dissonously1866
uneuphoniously1882
untunefully1884
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > [adverb] > inharmoniously or unmelodiously
jarringly1583
discordantly1616
unmelodiously1739
unharmoniously1783
inharmoniously1828
cacophonously1864
tunelessly1905
1739 J. Gurthie Life & Heroick Actions of 8th Champion of Christendom ii. 6 One Side wou'd sing their Prayers to a Tune, the other wou'd sigh and groan most unmelodiously.
1858 T. Carlyle Hist. Friedrich II of Prussia I. v. i. 529 An English Parliament jangling and debating unmelodiously.
1909 Papers & Proc. Royal Soc. Tasmania 50 A native magpie, which most unmelodiously the zoologists call a ‘piping crow’.
2006 J. Robertson Test. Gideon Mack (2008) 250 She was not blessed with a good voice, and the words did not so much drift as crash unmelodiously among the trees.
unmeˈlodiousness n.
ΚΠ
a1832 J. Bentham Lang. in Wks. (1841) XVI. 306/1 By any positive degree of the opposite quality—unmelodiousness or unharmoniousness—the design cannot but be proportionally counteracted.
1909 Man 9 163 To-day, in imitation of Europe, there are also brass bands of varying degrees of unmelodiousness.
2001 N.Y. Times 5 Apr. e9 It was neither melodic nor, for its unmelodiousness, particularly interesting.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1665