dissonance

noun dis·so·nance \ ˈdi-sə-nən(t)s \

|Updated on: 11 Jun 2018

Examples: dissonance in a Sentence

Definition of dissonance

1 a : lack of agreement

the dissonance between the truth and what people want to believe

; especially : inconsistency between the beliefs one holds or between one's actions and one's beliefs — compare cognitive dissonance

b : an instance of such inconsistency or disagreement

the mingling of bitter comedy and stark tragedy produces sharp dissonances
—F. B. Millett

2 : a mingling of sounds that strike the ear harshly : a mingling of discordant sounds; especially, music : a clashing or unresolved musical interval or chord

See dissonance defined for kids

Examples of dissonance in a Sentence

the dissonance between what we are told and what we see with our own eyes

Recent Examples of dissonance from the Web

Abigail Fischer sings the piece vividly, with members of Sequitur, conducted by Jayce Ogren, moving easily through the score’s episodes of pointillism, stateliness and hazy dissonance.

— allan kozinn, WSJ, "Romantic Lushness Meets Post-Tonal Grittiness," 30 May 2018
The data shows that the dissonance exists in virtually every prominent story.

— alvin chang, Vox, "The stories Fox News covers obsessively — and those it ignores — in charts," 30 May 2018
Environmental dissonance seems to fix books in my consciousness.

— nicole lamy, New York Times, "Road Trip Reads," 22 May 2018
In another era of upheaval and dissonance, Lafayette and the Poor People's Campaign are back.

— patrik jonsson, The Christian Science Monitor, "Fifty years after King’s assassination, the Poor People’s Campaign relaunches," 14 May 2018
Guns in the Hands of Kids There was a strange dissonance between Sharif Hamza’s photographs of teen-agers with guns and Dana Goodyear’s accompanying article (Portfolio, March 26th).

— rachel aviv, The New Yorker, "The Mail," 17 Apr. 2018
The dissonance between the soap-bubble gleam of the ideal and the jagged loneliness that lies within is the animating force at the heart of this touchingly multivalent work.

— jeremy eichler, BostonGlobe.com, "Behind the white picket fence, portraits of a jagged loneliness," 13 May 2018
And while musically there’s still plenty of dissonance lurking just beneath the surface, Poem is reliably catchy.

— nathaniel friedman, GQ, "U.S. Girls Isn’t Selling Out—She’s Just Writing Bops," 26 Apr. 2018
The dissonance laid bare his lack of experience in managing governing processes like regulation.

— ali watkins, New York Times, "Pressured by Trump, A.T.F. Revisits Bump Stock Rules," 13 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'dissonance.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.