Meanings
prepositional phrase
- figurativelyNot in harmony (with); at odds (with).
1 more example
It was a figure quite out of key with that lonely landscape, for it wore a panama hat and a neat dark suit, cut to the order of present day dandyism, which required coats to be tight-waisted up to the armpits and trousers belted in that they might bulge out into extra wide mathematically squared bags.
1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 63
Synonyms & antonyms
Opposite
Cite this entry
APA
out of key. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/out%20of%20key
MLA
“out of key.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/out%20of%20key. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “out of key,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/out%20of%20key.
Source: out of key on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.