classical

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. adj. Of or relating to the ancient Greeks and Romans, especially their art, architecture, and literature.
2. adj. Conforming to the artistic and literary models of ancient Greece and Rome.
3. adj. Versed in the classics: a classical scholar.
4. adj. Of or relating to the most artistically developed stage of a civilization: Chinese classical poetry.
5. adj. Music Of or relating to European music during the latter half of the 18th and the early 19th centuries.
6. adj. Music Of or relating to music in the educated European tradition, such as symphony and opera, as opposed to popular or folk music.
7. adj. Of, relating to, or being a variety of a language that is epitomized by a prestigious body of literature.
8. adj. Standard and authoritative rather than new or experimental: classical methods of navigation.
9. adj. Well-known; classic: the classical argument between free trade and protectionism.
10. adj. Of or relating to physics that can be described without the use of quantum mechanics or relativity.
11. adj. Relating to or consisting of studies in the humanities and general sciences: a classical curriculum.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. Belonging to or associated with the first or highest class in literature, especially in literary style. Primarily and specifically, relating to Greek and Roman authors and orators of the first rank or highest estimation.
2. Pertaining to writers of the first rank among the moderns; constituting the best model or authority as a composition or an author.
3. Hence In general, of the first rank, or constituting a model, in its kind; having in a high degree the qualities which constitute excellence in its kind: as, a classical work of art.
4. Same as classic, 2 and 3.
5. Pertaining to a class; of the taxonomic rank or grade of a class.
6. Belonging to classification; classificatory.
7. In some Reformed churches, relating to or of the nature of a classis or class. See classis, 2.
8. Belonging or pertaining to a fleet.
9. In music, belonging or pertaining to a style of composition in which regularity of form is conspicuous, particularly to the style developed in the latter part of the eighteenth century: opposed to romantic. Thus Haydn's music is classical, while Schumann's is mostly romantic. The term is also loosely used of all music that is elaborate, difficult, or abstruse: opposed to popular.

Wiktionary

1. adj. Of or relating to the first class or rank, especially in literature or art.
2. adj. Of or pertaining to established principles in a discipline.
3. adj. music Describing European music and musicians of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
4. adj. informal, music Describing serious music (rather than pop, jazz, blues etc), especially when played using instruments of the orchestra.
5. adj. Of or pertaining to the ancient Greeks and Romans, especially to Greek or Roman authors of the highest rank, or of the period when their best literature was produced; of or pertaining to places inhabited by the ancient Greeks and Romans, or rendered famous by their deeds.
6. adj. Conforming to the best authority in literature and art; chaste; pure; refined; as, a classical style.

WordNet 3.0

1. adj. of recognized authority or excellence
2. adj. of or relating to the most highly developed stage of an earlier civilisation and its culture
3. adj. of or relating to the study of the literary works of ancient Greece and Rome
4. n. traditional genre of music conforming to an established form and appealing to critical interest and developed musical taste
5. adj. (language) having the form used by ancient standard authors
6. adj. of or pertaining to or characteristic of the ancient Greek and Roman cultures