Definition of dissonant
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Examples of dissonant in a Sentence
a dissonant chorus of noises arose from the busy construction site
Recent Examples of dissonant from the Web
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There was also something assertive, even dissonant, about his choice that seemed wholly out of character.
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Hersch is now a prominent American composer, the creator of a series of unfailingly intense works that share a musical language seemingly indebted to no school or movement: dissonant and unsettling, sometimes terrifying, rarely predictable.
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Taken together, these seemingly dissonant reactions were in fact not anomalous but rather typical outcomes of Lewis’s work in the cultural production of white supremacist politics.
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Marchand’s dissonant, whiny voice made the character even harder to take.
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As his musical persona, Childish Gambino, Glover sings the stylistically dissonant track as children dance around him, employing moves from body rolls to the South African Gwara Gwara.
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The dissonant scene was from the latest gathering of the Light Up the Border campaign, a burgeoning movement of mostly Anglo citizens that has galvanized public attention on the continuing stream of undocumented immigrants from the south.
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God of War, then, is an endlessly dissonant and self-contradictory game, cut across the same fault lines as its protagonist.
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Some of these senators have explained their dissonant positions by claiming that the qualifications for secretary of State and CIA director are different.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'dissonant.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
The root of "dissonant" is the Latin verb sonare. Can you guess what "sonare" means? Here's a hint: some related derivatives are "sonata," "supersonic," and "resonance." Does it sound to you as if "sonare" has something to do with sound? If so, you're right. In fact, sonare means "to sound, is related to the Latin noun sonus (meaning "sound"), and is an ancestor of the English word sound. "Dissonant" includes the negative prefix dis-. What is "dissonant," therefore, sounds inharmonic, conflicting, or clashing.
dissonant Synonyms
Synonyms
cacophonous, discordant, inharmonious, unmelodious, unmusical, unvocal;
Antonyms
Near Antonyms
dulcet, euphonious, mellifluent, mellifluous, mellow, melodic, sweet, tuneful;
quavering, trilling, warbling;
agreeable, appealing, pleasant;
cadenced, lilting, lyric, lyrical, rhythmic (or rhythmical);
Related Words
blaring, clanging, clangorous, clashing, clattering, dinning, grating, harsh, jangling, jangly, jarring, metallic, noisy, raspy, raucous, scratching, screeching, shrill, squeaky, strident;
DISSONANT Defined for English Language Learners
Definition of dissonant for English Language Learners
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: not in agreement with something
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music : not in harmony
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Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for dissonant
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