chordless

C3H4O1R1D2L1E1S1S1

adjective

Lacking chords.

Scrabble 15
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Meanings

adjectivechordless (not comparable)
  1. not comparablegraph theoryLacking chords.
  2. not comparableentertainmentNot playing chords; silent or playing one note at a time.

    It is a chordless affair, because it is out of commission .

    2013, Henry T. Sampson, Blacks in Blackface: A Sourcebook on Early Black Musical Shows, page 285
    1 more example

    But a profound melancholy had taken possession of Franz, the two hardly exchanged a word, the violin hung mute, chordless, full of dust, in its habitual place .

    2008, Reginald Menville, Douglas Menville, Ancient Hauntings, page 119
  3. not comparableentertainmentWithout chords; involving one note at a time or dissonant combinations.

    A boat slowly drifts under the bridge and out to sea, and someone inside it plays an untuned piano with a slow chordless melody.

    2007, Jason Murk, Tokharian Tales, page 96
    2 more examples

    Earlier work like the atonal music of pianist Sun Ra and bassist Charles Mingus as well as the chordless music of Coleman and Taylor foreshadowed free jazz.

    2009, Waldo E. Martin, No Coward Soldiers: Black Cultural Politics in Postwar America, page 62

    Nick's current projects include his sextet feature music from "Exposition", a chordless trio that performs regularly at Bar Next Door, a two-trombone duo with fellow Juilliard alumnus Joe McDonough, and freelancing with various ensembles and shows around the city.

    2014, Nick Finzer, Get Ahead!, page 81
  4. figurativelynot comparableWithout synergy or harmonious combinations; One thing at a time.

    Why the All-mover, Why the All-prover Ever urges on and measure out the chordless chime of things.

    1908, Thomas Hardy, The Dynasts
    1 more example

    Hardy, though, considers it incapable of resolution: for him, nature as defined by physical science is simultaneously rhythmic and chordless, measurable and inexact, deterministic and unknowable.

    2020, Gregory Tate, Nineteenth-Century Poetry and the Physical Sciences

Origin

From chord + -less.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

chordless. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chordless

MLA

“chordless.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chordless. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “chordless,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chordless.

Source: chordless on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.