"high-key" meaning in English

See high-key in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

Audio: En-us-high-key.oga Forms: more high-key [comparative], most high-key [superlative]
Etymology: From high + key. Etymology templates: {{compound|en|high|key}} high + key Head templates: {{en-adj}} high-key (comparative more high-key, superlative most high-key)
  1. (art, photography) Characterised by light tones and absence of shadow. Categories (topical): Art, Photography
    Sense id: en-high-key-en-adj-epPinp9j Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 99 1 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 100 0 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 100 0 Topics: art, arts, hobbies, lifestyle, photography
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: highkey, high key, highk

Adverb

Audio: En-us-high-key.oga Forms: more high-key [comparative], most high-key [superlative]
Etymology: From high + key. Etymology templates: {{compound|en|high|key}} high + key Head templates: {{en-adv}} high-key (comparative more high-key, superlative most high-key)
  1. (colloquial) In a conspicuous way. Tags: colloquial Coordinate_terms: low-key, mid-key
    Sense id: en-high-key-en-adv-kgmEXfdK
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: highkey, high key, highk

Alternative forms

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        "2": "high",
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  "etymology_text": "From high + key.",
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      "form": "more high-key",
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          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Art",
          "orig": "en:Art",
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            "Culture",
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
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            "Human activity",
            "Media",
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            "Human behaviour",
            "Communication",
            "Society",
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
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        },
        {
          "_dis": "99 1",
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          "parents": [
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        }
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        {
          "ref": "1942 November, Victor Keppler, “Key to Good Pictures”, in Popular Photography, →ISSN, page 29:",
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          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
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        "Characterised by light tones and absence of shadow."
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        [
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          "photography"
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        [
          "light",
          "light"
        ],
        [
          "shadow",
          "shadow"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(art, photography) Characterised by light tones and absence of shadow."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "art",
        "arts",
        "hobbies",
        "lifestyle",
        "photography"
      ]
    }
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      "word": "highkey"
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      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "high key"
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    },
    {
      "form": "most high-key",
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          "word": "low-key"
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          "word": "mid-key"
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        {
          "ref": "2022 January 31, BIG XO (@Raveyxoxo_), Twitter:",
          "text": "High key no longer wanna tell anyone anything that’s going on with me.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
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        "In a conspicuous way."
      ],
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          "conspicuous"
        ]
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        "(colloquial) In a conspicuous way."
      ],
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      "word": "high key"
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        "comparative"
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    },
    {
      "form": "most high-key",
      "tags": [
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          "text": "Details are tremendously important in composing an outstanding high-key photograph.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
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        "Characterised by light tones and absence of shadow."
      ],
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        ],
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          "photography",
          "photography"
        ],
        [
          "light",
          "light"
        ],
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          "shadow"
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        "(art, photography) Characterised by light tones and absence of shadow."
      ],
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  ],
  "etymology_text": "From high + key.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more high-key",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most high-key",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
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          "ref": "2022 January 31, BIG XO (@Raveyxoxo_), Twitter:",
          "text": "High key no longer wanna tell anyone anything that’s going on with me.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In a conspicuous way."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "conspicuous",
          "conspicuous"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(colloquial) In a conspicuous way."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial"
      ]
    }
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      "word": "high key"
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  ],
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}

Download raw JSONL data for high-key meaning in English (3.2kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.