classical
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Of or about established principles in a discipline.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
klasihkuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈklæsɪkəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Of or relating to the first class or rank, especially in literature or art.
Of or pertaining to established principles in a discipline.
Of or pertaining to the ancient Greeks and Romans, especially to Greek or Roman authors of the highest rank, or of the period when their best literature was produced; of or pertaining to places inhabited by the ancient Greeks and Romans, or rendered famous by their deeds.
music
Describing Western music and musicians of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Conforming to the best authority in literature and art; chaste; pure; refined
Knowledgeable or skilled in the classics; versed in the classics.
noun
countable
One that is classical in some way; for example, a classical economist.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Of or relating to the first class or rank, especially in literature or art.
Used this way, classical is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in literature or storytelling contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Literature/storytelling
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A creation of the highest excellence.
In a way that relates to Of or relating to the first class or rank, especially in literature or art.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Conditioning that pairs a neutral stimulus with a stimulus that evokes a reflex.
The dialect of Ancient Greek spoken and written in Attica and Athens and Ionia.
Hemophilia caused by a congenital deficiency of factor VIII.
Hemophilia caused by a congenital deficiency of factor VIII.
The language of educated people in ancient Rome.
The branch of mechanics based on Newton's laws of motion.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Antonyms
Sense: of or relating to the first class or rank
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.