tunelessly
- adverb
- /ˈtunləsli/
- "Oh, hi, Charlene!" she said brightly, and went on scrubbing, humming tunelessly to herself.
- humming tunelessly
- whistling tunelessly
- singing tunelessly
Examples
-
Bobby Lee hummed tunelessly in the back seat.
Fiction book (1998) -
A light breeze whistles over my cottage, and I hum along with it tunelessly.
Fiction book (1996) -
"Then away you go to an island fair that lies in a Southern sea," he sang tunelessly.
Fiction book (1990) -
Maria sat on a sofa, rocking slowly from side to side, humming tunelessly to herself.
Fiction book (2002) -
Craig whistles tunelessly, every once in a while looking up and discreetly checking out Maxine.
Fiction book (1999) -
I never actually sang, but I followed the words in the book, and I was doing so then, hearing the children around me happily and tunelessly singing and the music teacher's shrill soprano above it all.
Fiction book (1991) -
Fuchs was back in the sensor bay, humming tunelessly to himself as he bent over a worktable strewn with parts from an infrared scanner.
Fiction book (2001) -
By now, Alan must have recuperated sufficiently to feel poorly, and soon I heard his shower running and him singing lugubriously, tunelessly, the saddest and sweetest song in all the world about Danny Boy.
Fiction book (1996) -
Whenever a will or a title search required his services, Pete would plod in, whistling tunelessly, trill his pudgy fingers at Delia, and proceed to the inner office.
Fiction book (1995) -
As she worked in the kitchen, she hummed tunelessly to herself, adding to the cozy atmosphere.
Synonyms
In a way that sounds unpleasant
In a way that sounds out of tune or has bad rhythm
Antonyms
How Musical
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Tunelessly comes from tune ('melody') and -less ('without'), with -ly added to make it an adverb. So, to sing tunelessly is to sing with no clear melody.