discrepancy

noun

dis·​crep·​an·​cy di-ˈskre-pən-sē 

plural discrepancies

1

: the quality or state of disagreeing or being at variance

2

: an instance of disagreeing or being at variance

Synonyms of discrepancy

• difference
• distinctness
• distinctiveness
• diversity

Examples of discrepancy in a Sentence

Dr. Derman, who spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs and became managing director, was a forerunner of the many physicists and other scientists who have flooded Wall Street in recent years, moving from a world in which a discrepancy of a few percentage points in a measurement can mean a Nobel Prize or unending mockery to a world in which a few percent one way can land you in jail and a few percent the other way can win you your own private Caribbean island. —Dennis Overbye, New York Times, 9 Mar. 2009

Why the difference? Why are some individuals so outwardly altered by time and others not? Or, in other words, why is there often a discrepancy between chronological age and biological age? —Time, 17 Oct. 2005

If an article is on one machine but not the other, a copy is made to eliminate the discrepancy. —Simson Garfinkel, Technology Review, November 2001

The discrepancy can't be written off simply as lack of data, because it shows up in one of the best-studied periods in Earth's history … —Tim Appenzeller, Science, 12 Feb. 1993

Discrepancies in the firm's financial statements led to an investigation.

There were discrepancies between their accounts of the accident.

Recent Examples on the Web

The search took place at the Fulton County Elections Hub and Operations Center, but the warrant shared by Arrington was addressed to the Office of the Clerk of Court — seemingly due to a discrepancy in Georgia law. —Sarah N. Lynch, CBS News, 29 Jan. 2026

Most of the calls were made to the Accounts Management, which handles refunds, notices, payment issues, and account discrepancies—the IRS received more than 70 million calls on those lines, with about 19 million answered by representatives. —Kelly Phillips Erb, Forbes.com, 28 Jan. 2026

Homendy said the helicopter altimeter discrepancy is what surprised her the most in this investigation. —Sam Sweeney, ABC News, 27 Jan. 2026

Boston’s tendency to ignore federal civil detainer requests due to the Trust Act led to a squabble between ICE and Boston Police last year that centered around a discrepancy in how many detainer requests the respective sides reported for 2024. —Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald, 27 Jan. 2026

Word History

Etymology

earlier discrepance in same sense (borrowed from Latin discrepantia, derivative of discrepant-, discrepans, present participle of discrepāre "to differ in sound, be out of tune, be inconsistent") + -ancy — more at discrepant

First Known Use

1579, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

discrepancy

noun

dis·​crep·​an·​cy dis-ˈkrep-ən-sē 

plural discrepancies

1

: the quality or state of being different : disagreement

a great discrepancy between the two reports

2

: something that is different or that disagrees

discrepancies in the firm's financial statements