| 释义 |
unˈmusical, a.
[un-1 7.]
1. Of sounds: Not of a musical nature; unmelodious, harsh.
1607Shakes. Cor. iv. v. 64 A name vnmusicall to the Volcians eares. a1637B. Jonson Rules Tavern Acad. ix, Let argument bear no unmusical sound. 1718Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess Bristol 10 Apr., Their pipes..are no unmusical instruments. 1753Cibber Lives Poets I. 18 His stile..is equally unmusical and obsolete with Chaucer's. 1801Busby Dict. Mus., Unmusical, an epithet applied..to whatever is not absolutely harmonious, melodious, or agreeable to a cultivated ear. 1855Poultry Chron. III. 500/2 At this time..its not unmusical cry is heard. 1880McCarthy Own Times xlviii. IV. 22 His voice was singularly un⁓musical and harsh.
2. Of persons: Not musically gifted; not appreciative of music. Also absol.
1634Cartwright Ordinary ii. iii, I'll..Give organs to every parish..; And so root out th' unmusical elect. 1861tr. Mendelssohn's Lett. Italy 69 The Papal singers..are almost all unmusical, and do not execute even the most established pieces in tune. 1896Westm. Gaz. 2 June 2/3 The unmusical admired her singing, the musical her acting.
3. Not based on musical principles.
1786T. Twining in Recreat. & Stud. (1882) 132 All this is unmusical criticism, and goes upon the false notion of the words..being principal.
Hence unˈmusicalness; unmusiˈcality.
1678Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. v. 759 Matter..perpetually remains, and all other things whatsoever are but..passions and affections..thereof, as musicalness and unmusicalness. 1873C. M. Yonge Pillars of House I. x. 201 Geraldine resembled Fulbert in unmusicalness. 1890–N.E.D., Unmusicality [listed (1924) as ‘in recent use’]. 1922Daily Mail 10 Nov. 7 She had been painfully struck by..‘the unmusicalness’ of the bells of public clocks. 1946Penguin Music Mag. Dec. 14 Our vaunted choral singing is really the proof of our fundamental unmusicality, because any amateur can sing in a chorus. 1963Times 17 May 18/6 Beethoven (whom to admit disliking is still tantamount to an admission of unmusicality). 1984Listener 12 Jan. 28/3 Their unmusicality demands public exposure. |