Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Not in agreement or harmony; conflicting: Describes things that are incompatible, contradictory, or at odds with each other.
   • Lacking in harmony; inharmonious: Describes a lack of agreement or accord, often in a non-musical context, such as in opinions or relationships.
   • Characterized by musical dissonance; harmonically unresolved: In music, describes a combination of sounds that feels tense, unstable, or discordant, requiring resolution to a consonant chord.

Usage Examples

• Adjective (General Conflict):
  • His actions were dissonant with his stated principles.
  • The two witnesses gave dissonant accounts of the event.
• Adjective (Musical Context):
  • The composer used a dissonant chord to create a feeling of suspense.
  • The piece ends on a deliberately dissonant note.

Advanced Usage

• Cognitive Dissonance: A psychological term describing the mental discomfort experienced when holding two or more contradictory beliefs, values, or ideas.
  • Buying an expensive car while advocating for environmentalism caused him significant cognitive dissonance.

Variants and Related Words

• Dissonance (noun): The state of being dissonant; a harsh or disagreeable combination of sounds; a lack of agreement or harmony.
  • There was a clear dissonance between the company's friendly image and its harsh labor practices.
• Dissonantly (adverb): In a dissonant manner.
  • The instruments clashed dissonantly.

Synonyms

• Discordant: Disagreeing or incongruous; (in music) harsh and jarring.
• Inharmonious: Not forming or contributing to a pleasing whole; conflicting.
• Incongruous: Not in harmony or keeping with the surroundings or other aspects.
• Conflicting: Incompatible or at variance; clashing.

Antonyms

• Harmonious: Forming a pleasing or consistent whole; free from disagreement.
• Consonant: In agreement or harmony; (in music) denoting a combination of notes that is stable and resolved.
• Concordant: Being in agreement or harmony.

Related Phrases/Idioms

• A dissonant note: Often used figuratively to describe an element that is strikingly out of place or inconsistent with everything else.
  • His angry outburst struck a dissonant note at the peaceful celebration.

Adjective

1. not in accord
   • desires at variance with his duty
   • widely discrepant statements
2. lacking in harmony
3. characterized by musical dissonance; harmonically unresolved