classical
Etymology
See classic § Etymology for history; surface analysis, class + -ical = classic + -al
Pronunciation
Adjective
classical (comparative more classical, superlative most classical)
- Of or relating to the first class or rank, especially in literature or art.
- 1727, w:John Arbuthnot, Tables of Ancient Coins, Weights and Measures Explain'd and Exemplify'd in Several Dissertations, strana 15:
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- Of or pertaining to established principles in a discipline.
- (music) Describing Western music and musicians of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
- (informal, music) Describing art music (rather than pop, jazz, blues, etc), especially when played using instruments of the orchestra.
- 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.
- 1853, Thomas Babington Macaulay, "Atterbury, Francis" in Encyclopædia Britannica (8th ed.). Dated through The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, page 344
- He [Atterbury] directed the classical studies of the undergraduates of his college.
- 1853, Thomas Babington Macaulay, "Atterbury, Francis" in Encyclopædia Britannica (8th ed.). Dated through The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, page 344
- Knowledgeable or skilled in the classics; versed in the classics.
- a classical scholar
- 2022 jul 27, Brian Seibert, “Dormeshia Coasts On Her Tap Mystery In 'Rhythm Is Life'”, in New York Times[1]:
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- Conforming to the best authority in literature and art; chaste; pure; refined
- classical dance.
- 1848, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume 1, page 151.
- Classical, provincial, and national synods.
- (physics) Pertaining to models of physical laws that do not take quantum or relativistic effects into account; Newtonian or Maxwellian.
- Antonims: quantum, relativistic
Usage notes
Various usage advisers give various prescriptions for differentiating classic from classical by word sense distinctions and by collocational idiomaticness (that is, according to the way in which certain collocations tend to use one suffix more than the other idiomatically). For example (as pointed out by various authorities, including Bryan Garner in Garner's Modern English Usage, fourth edition), classical tends to be preferred in the sense referring to "the classics" (in ancient literature, modern literature, or music), although classic also sometimes serves in this sense. For copyeditorially inclined users of English, it is useful to know the twin pair of descriptive facts that apply to many usage prescriptions: the prescriptions are not invariably followed in respectable formal writing, but nonetheless it is widely considered preferable style to avoid flouting them.
Synonyms
- classic (see Usage notes regarding differentiation.)
Derived terms
- anteclassical
- anticlassical
- Classical antiquity
- classical antiquity
- Classical Arabic
- Classical Armenian
- Classical Chinese
- classical computer
- classical conditioning
- Classical English
- classical era
- Classical Greece
- Classical Greek
- classical guitar
- classical guitarist
- classical hadrodynamics
- Classical Hebrew
- classical history
- classical inheritance
- classicalist
- classicality
- classicalization
- classicalize
- Classical Japanese
- classical language
- Classical Latin
- classical liberal
- classical liberalism
- classical logic
- classically
- classical mechanics
- classical music
- Classical Nahuatl
- classicalness
- classical physics
- classical planet
- Classical Sanskrit
- Classical Studies
- classical studies
- Classical Syriac
- classical thermodynamics
- Classical Tupi
- classical unemployment
- classical unity
- epiclassical
- neoclassical
- nonclassical
- paleoclassical
- preclassical
- pseudoclassical
- quasiclassical
- semiclassical
- superclassical
- unclassical
Translations
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Noun
classical (countable and uncountable, plural classicals)
- (countable) One that is classical in some way; for example, a classical economist.
- 2002, James E Hartley; James E. Hartley, The Representative Agent in Macroeconomics, Routledge, →ISBN, strana 120:
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- Short for classical music.
- (chess) Short for classical chess.
- 2015 novembar 3, solskytz, “IM Greg Shahade: "Slow Chess should die a fast death"”, in Chess.com[2]:
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- 2022 septembar 23, Brian Pempus, “Hans Niemann Eliminated, Magnus Carlsen A -350 Betting Favorite To Win Online Chess Event”, in Forbes[3]:
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Further reading
- classical in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
- classical at OneLook Dictionary Search
- classical, classic at Google Ngram Viewer