sour notes
Off-key tones
Sour notes are tones that sound wrong—off-pitch, discordant, out of harmony with what surrounds them.
A singer hits a sour note when straying from the intended pitch.
Figuratively, anything that disrupts an otherwise positive situation strikes a sour note: The CEO's comments about layoffs struck a sour note at the holiday party.
The singular form is more common in figurative use.
- atonalWithout musical key
- discordantLacking musical agreement
- wolfWild pack canine
- tone deafCannot perceive pitch differences
- dissonanceLack of harmony
off-key · cacophony · mistuned · faux pas · pitchy · disharmony · clash · jarring · clunker · misplay · misstep · sharp · flat · brashness · bitter taste · mishap · bad timing · false start
- discorddiscord, Discord, dissonance, discordance, dissonant
sour notessmooth sailing
Untroubled progress forward
bright spots · grace notes · harmony · high notes · highlights
sour, note, sourly, sourness, soured, souring, sours, notes, noted