English

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Etymology

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From Latin dissonantia via Middle French; by surface analysis, dis- +‎ son- +‎ -ance.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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dissonance (countable and uncountable, plural dissonances)

  1. (countable, uncountable) A harsh, discordant combination of sounds.
    Synonym: cacophony
    Antonyms: consonance; concordance, concord
  2. (music) Conflicting notes that are not overtones of the note or chord sounding.
  3. (uncountable) A state of disagreement or conflict.
    Synonyms: discordance, discord, disharmony, disjunction, dispute; see also Thesaurus:dispute
  4. (countable) An instance of that state.
    Synonyms: clash, dispute; see also Thesaurus:dispute
    • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 106:
      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.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Anagrams

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French

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Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Late Latin dissonantia.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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dissonance f (plural dissonances)

  1. (music) dissonance (conflicting notes that are not overtones of the note or chord sounding)
    Antonyms: consonance, harmonie
  2. dissonance
    Antonyms: assonance, harmonie

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • German: Dissonanz
  • Polish: dysonans

Further reading

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