classical

English

Etymology

    See classic § Etymology for history. By surface analysis, class +‎ -ical or classic +‎ -al or class +‎ -ic +‎ -al

    Pronunciation

    • (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada, Australia) IPA(key): /ˈklæs.ɪ.k(ə)l/, [ˈklæs.ɪ.kɫ̩]
    • Audio (US):(file)
    • (New Zealand) IPA(key): /ˈklɛs.ɪ.kəl/, [ˈklɛs.ɪ.kɫ̩]
    • Hyphenation: clas‧si‧cal

    Adjective

    classical (comparative more classical, superlative most classical)

    1. Of or relating to the first class or rank, especially in literature or art.
    2. Of or pertaining to established principles in a discipline.
      Synonyms: traditional, conventional, canonical
      Antonyms: modern, experimental
      • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page vii:
        Herbarium material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get; what you get is classical alpha-taxonomy which is, very largely and for sound reasons, in disrepute today.
    3. (music) Describing Western music and musicians of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
      Antonyms: popular, contemporary
    4. (informal, music) Describing art music (rather than pop, jazz, blues, etc), especially when played using instruments of the orchestra.
    5. 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.
      Synonyms: ancient, Hellenic, Roman
    6. Knowledgeable or skilled in the classics; versed in the classics.
      a classical scholar
      • 2022 July 27, Brian Seibert, “Dormeshia Coasts On Her Tap Mystery In 'Rhythm Is Life'”, in The New York Times‎[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 24 November 2024:
        But she’s not just classy; she’s classical: so deeply versed in tap tradition and technique that she has the whole of it at her command and never has to worry.
    7. Conforming to the best authority in literature and art; chaste; pure; refined
      classical dance
    8. (physics) Pertaining to models of physical laws that do not take quantum or relativistic effects into account; Newtonian or Maxwellian.
      Antonyms: quantum, relativistic
    10. (mathematics) Pertaining to mathematical frameworks or methods which permit proof by contradiction; nonconstructive, based on classical logic.
      Antonyms: intuitionistic, constructive
      • 2013, The Univalent Foundations Program, Homotopy Type Theory‎[2]:
        On the other hand, we can now also show that corresponding statements looking like the classical law of double negation and law of excluded middle are incompatible with the univalence axiom.
      • 2014 November 6, Rob Nederpelt, Herman Geuvers, Type Theory and Formal Proof: An Introduction, →DOI, →ISBN, page 159:
        In the presence of the double negation axiom, one can also define ∨, ∧ and ∃ in terms of ⟹, ¬ and ∀ in the usual classical way: A∨B:=¬A⟹B, A∧B:=¬(¬A∨¬B) and ∃x.P(x):=¬∀x.¬P(x).

    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 of "the classics" (in ancient literature, modern literature, or music), though classic also sometimes serves in this sense.

    Synonyms

    Derived terms

    Translations

    Noun

    classical (countable and uncountable, plural classicals)

    1. (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, page 120:
        Similarly, the new classicals never claimed to be Austrians, nor did they ever make the attempt to meet Austrian objections. Therefore, we cannot fault them for not using this methodology. Nevertheless, new classicals constantly preach […]
    2. Ellipsis of classical music.
    3. (chess) Ellipsis of classical chess.
      • 2015 November 3, solskytz, “IM Greg Shahade: "Slow Chess should die a fast death"”, in Chess.com‎[3], archived from the original on 29 December 2025:
        When I want to have fun I play blitz. When I want to go deeper and work on improving my game, I play classical and I try to do it in tournament settings.
      • 2022 September 23, Brian Pempus, “Hans Niemann Eliminated, Magnus Carlsen A -350 Betting Favorite To Win Online Chess Event”, in Forbes‎[4], archived from the original on 23 November 2024:
        In early September, Niemann scored an extraordinary win against Carlsen during an in-person tournament in St. Louis, Missouri. Carlsen, the world’s highest-rated player since 2011, lost with the white pieces in the classical time format, a rare occurrence for the chess juggernaut.

    Further reading

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