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
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.
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
Just a day before the auction, internet sleuth Perezcope, published an instagram post suggesting the hard enamel had been recessed, while pointing out discrepancies in the numerals and so on.
—Paige Reddinger, Robb Report, 8 Nov. 2025
There were also discrepancies in the planning.
—Kevin G. Hall, Miami Herald, 7 Nov. 2025
The reason for the discrepancy was not immediately clear.
—Manish Paudel, NBC news, 4 Nov. 2025
The news came amid officials stating that a coroner found inconsistencies in her death, though discrepancies were not reported in 2018, and no autopsy was performed.
—Jordana Comiter, PEOPLE, 30 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for discrepancy
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Paige Reddinger, Robb Report, 8 Nov. 2025
There were also discrepancies in the planning.
—Kevin G. Hall, Miami Herald, 7 Nov. 2025
The reason for the discrepancy was not immediately clear.
—Manish Paudel, NBC news, 4 Nov. 2025
The news came amid officials stating that a coroner found inconsistencies in her death, though discrepancies were not reported in 2018, and no autopsy was performed.
—Jordana Comiter, PEOPLE, 30 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for discrepancy
Cite this Entry
“Discrepancy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discrepancy. Accessed 12 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationKids 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
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