adj
Freq #6243
Meanings
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1
adj
Relating to traditional, serious music written by composers such as Mozart and Beethoven.
She enjoys listening to classical music while she studies.
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2
adj
Relating to ancient Greece and Rome and their culture.
He studied classical literature at university.
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3
adj
Based on long-established ideas and methods in a subject.
The lecture covered classical theories of economics.
Thesaurus
Word family
Derived forms
anteclassicalanticlassicalclassicalismclassicalistclassicalityclassicalizationclassicalizeclassicallyclassicalnessclassicalonepiclassicalextraclassical
Related forms
classicism
Common collocations
Etymology
See classic § Etymology for history. By surface analysis, class + -ical or classic + -al or class + -ic + -al