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Antonyms for classical

Grammar : Adj
Spell : klas-i-kuh l
Phonetic Transcription : ˈklæs ɪ kəl

Definition of classical

Origin :
  • 1590s, "of the highest rank" (originally in literature), from classic + -al (1). Classical music (1836) was defined originally against romantic music.
  • [I]n general, as now used, the term classical includes the composers active in instrumental music from somewhere about 1700 to say 1830. Hence the list includes among the great names those of Bach, his sons, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Clementi, Dussek, Pleyel, Cramer, etc. The next step beyond the term classical is "modern romantic," the composers of which school may be taken to include all the writers for pianoforte from about 1829 (when Mendelssohn published the first "Songs without Words") down to the present. The term romantic in this sense means strongly marked, extraordinary, intending to tell stories and the like. ["Music, Its Ideals and Methods," W.S.B. Mathews, 1897]
  • But already by 1880s it was acknowledged the term had a double sense: Music that had withstood the test of time, as well as music of a style contrasted to "romantic." Later (early 20c.) it was contrasted to jazz (in this sense more often with reference to the orchestras than to the music itself). Still later in contrast to popular music generally (mid-20c.).
  • adj concerning ancient culture
  • adj simple, chaste
Example sentences :
  • In short, I am, as to classical education, another Shakespear.
  • Extract from : « A Treatise on Parents and Children » by George Bernard Shaw
  • Pray let me advise you never more to meddle with a classical myth.
  • Extract from : « The Three Golden Apples » by Nathaniel Hawthorne
  • Even in Boston, mellowed though it was by culture, the classical was at a discount.
  • Extract from : « Heroes of the Telegraph » by J. Munro
  • But the classical model upon which Comus was formed has not yet been discovered.
  • Extract from : « Imogen » by William Godwin
  • Maria Novella, while it spoils the classical ornaments of the mouldings.
  • Extract from : « Modern Painters Volume II (of V) » by John Ruskin
  • The historians of classical Greece were his continual study.
  • Extract from : « Shelley, Godwin and Their Circle » by H. N. Brailsford
  • But Frieda, listening to Classical Music, could not respond.
  • Extract from : « Howards End » by E. M. Forster
  • "I've been to that classical concert I told you about," said Leonard.
  • Extract from : « Howards End » by E. M. Forster
  • Keeping accounts was not deemed a classical accomplishment in Norway.
  • Extract from : « Tales From Two Hemispheres » by Hjalmar Hjorth Boysen
  • The question of classical education does not now concern us.
  • Extract from : « The Negro Farmer » by Carl Kelsey

Synonyms for classical

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019