carry a tune

verb

To produce music, especially to sing, with accurate relative pitch.

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Meanings

verbcarry a tune (third-person singular simple present carries a tune, present participle carrying a tune, simple past and past participle carried a tune)

present singular third person carries a tune · participle present carrying a tune · participle past carried a tune · past carried a tune

  1. To produce music, especially to sing, with accurate relative pitch.

    Emmett burst forth in song, but his comrade punched him in the side and said, “Lord Sakes, shut up, you can't carry a tune in a bucket.

    1922, Jim Tully, Emmett Lawler, page 209
    1 more example

    Jenny is named for a singer and Fanny for a beautiful dancer, but mother says they're both misfits, for Jenny can't carry a tune and Fanny's kind of stiff-legged.

    1903, Kate Douglas Wiggin, chapter 1, in Rebecca Of Sunnybrook Farm
Cite this entry
APA

carry a tune. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/carry%20a%20tune

MLA

“carry a tune.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/carry%20a%20tune. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “carry a tune,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/carry%20a%20tune.

Source: carry a tune on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.