off-key

off key

1. Literally, not in the correct key; out of tune. Hyphenated if used before a noun. I think your voice is a bit off key. Overall, the performance was very enjoyable, but there was one off-key brass player that was driving me nuts the whole night.

2. By extension, at odds with what is normal, standard, or expected. Hyphenated if used before a noun. There was something off key about the way he spoke that made me think that something was very wrong. Her character is an off-key caricature of modern superheroes.

See also: key, off

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

off-key

[of music or singing] off pitch; out of tune. She always sings off-key and makes the rest of the choir sound like baying hounds.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.