dissonance
/ˈdɪsənəns/
dissonance noun: a harsh, discordant combination of sounds.
Noun
dissonance (countable and uncountable, plural dissonances)
- A harsh, discordant combination of sounds.
- Synonyms:
- cacophony
- Antonyms:
- consonance, concordance, concord
- Conflicting notes that are not overtones of the note or chord sounding.
- A state of disagreement or conflict.
- Cognitive dissonance exists when a person possesses two cognitions, one of which is contradictory to the other1977, Lawrence S. Wrightsman with Kay Deaux, Social Psychology, page 366
- Synonyms:
- discordance, discord, disharmony, disjunction, dispute, argument, argy-bargy, altercation, contention, barney
- An instance of that state.
- In this polyphony of images in the unconscious which is beyond and outside historical time, there are complex harmonies but no dissonances: the images do not clash, but that, of course, is an aesthetic judgment and not a scientific one.1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 106
- Synonyms:
- clash, dispute, argument, argy-bargy, altercation, contention, barney, bawl out, blue, bobbery
dissonance meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Tagalog
dissonance in Tamil
- ஒவ்வா இசை, இசைக் கேடு, இசையொவ்வாமை, முரணிசை, முரணொலி, நாராசம்
dissonance in Urdu
- a state of disagreement or conflict
- نا آہنگی nā āhaṉgī
dissonance in Bengali
- বেসুরোতা, মত, শব্দ, ধারণার মধ্যে অমিল
dissonance in Tagalog
- a harsh, discordant combination of sounds
- dilingaw
- conflicting notes that are not overtones of the note or chord sounding
- dilingaw
Examples of dissonance in a sentence
- It also aids in overcoming cognitive dissonance (the cause "must be" worthwhile to have attracted these funds).
- The bright lights and dark dissonance starts to wane.
- Then he went off into his own updated, posteverything style, full of explicit dissonance, repetition and strange dynamics.
Synonyms of dissonance
- cacophony
- discordance
- discord
- disharmony
- disjunction
- dispute
- argument
- argy-bargy
- altercation
- contention
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of dissonance
| plural | dissonances |
|---|
Origin of dissonance
Borrowed from Middle French dissonance, from Latin dissonantia; by surface analysis, dis- + son- + -ance.
Words formed from dissonance
Phrases with dissonance
Questions about dissonance
- What does dissonance mean?
- Dissonance means a harsh, discordant combination of sounds.
- What is dissonance in Tamil?
- Dissonance in Tamil is ஒவ்வா இசை, இசைக் கேடு, இசையொவ்வாமை. See Dissonance meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is dissonance?
- Dissonance is a noun.
- How do you pronounce dissonance?
- Dissonance is pronounced /ˈdɪsənəns/ (UK).
- What is the plural of dissonance?
- The plural of dissonance is dissonances.
Words near dissonance in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: dissonance (page history and authors); dissonance (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); dissonance (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-dissonance.wav.
Cite this entry: “dissonance.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dissonance. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.