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Etymology
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classical (adj.)

1590s, "of the highest rank" (originally in literature), from classic + -al (1). Classical music (1836) was defined originally against romantic music.

[I]n general, as now used, the term classical includes the composers active in instrumental music from somewhere about 1700 to say 1830. Hence the list includes among the great names those of Bach, his sons, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Clementi, Dussek, Pleyel, Cramer, etc. The next step beyond the term classical is "modern romantic," the composers of which school may be taken to include all the writers for pianoforte from about 1829 (when Mendelssohn published the first "Songs without Words") down to the present. The term romantic in this sense means strongly marked, extraordinary, intending to tell stories and the like. ["Music, Its Ideals and Methods," W.S.B. Mathews, 1897]

But already by 1880s it was acknowledged the term had a double sense: Music that had withstood the test of time, as well as music of a style contrasted to "romantic." Later (early 20c.) it was contrasted to jazz (in this sense more often with reference to the orchestras than to the music itself). Still later it stood in contrast to popular music generally (mid-20c.). Classical history is the history of ancient Greece and Rome; ancient history is the history of mankind from the earliest reliable records to the fall of Rome (476 C.E.). Related: Classically.

Entries linking to classical

classic (adj.)

1610s, "of or belonging to the highest class; approved as a model," from French classique (17c.), from Latin classicus "relating to the (highest) classes of the Roman people," hence, "superior," from classis (see class (n.)). Originally in English, "of the first class;" meaning "belonging to or characteristic of standard authors of Greek and Roman antiquity" is attested from 1620s.

-al (1)
suffix forming adjectives from nouns or other adjectives, "of, like, related to, pertaining to," Middle English -al, -el, from French or directly from Latin -alis (see -al (2)).

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Definitions of classical
1
classical (adj.)
of or relating to the languages used by ancient standard authors;
classical Greek
classical (adj.)
of or relating to the first significant period of a civilization, culture, area of study, etc.;
classical Marxism
Synonyms: classic
classical (adj.)
of or relating to the study of the literary works of ancient Greece and Rome;
a classical scholar
classical (adj.)
well-known and long-established in form or style;
a classical ballet
Synonyms: classic
classical (adj.)
(physics) relating to or based on concepts that preceded the theories of relativity and quantum mechanics;
classical (adj.)
of or relating to music in the European tradition, such as symphonies and operas;
classical music
classical (adj.)
of or pertaining to or characteristic of the ancient Greeks and Romans, especially their art, literature, or culture;
the classical world
classical mythology
Synonyms: Greco-Roman / Graeco-Roman
2
classical (n.)
traditional genre of music conforming to an established form and appealing to critical interest and developed musical taste;
Synonyms: classical music / serious music
From wordnet.princeton.edu

Dictionary entries near classical

clasp

clasp-hook

clasp-knife

class

classic

classical

classicism

classics

classifiable

classification

classificatory

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