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.
Examples of dissonant in a Sentence
a dissonant chorus of noises arose from the busy construction site
Recent Examples on the Web
The creatively dissonant effort drove a nearly 10% month-over-month increase in store brand sales and a 12% increase across the category; expanded 7-Eleven’s in-house creative agency, producing campaigns faster and cheaper, all while also reducing plastic bag usage by 37%.
—
Seth Matlins, Forbes.com, 14 Apr. 2025
The book cover, showing a happy couple on a beach accompanied by a dog with a stick in its mouth, seems cheerily dissonant.
—Julio Ojeda-Zapata, Twin Cities, 29 Mar. 2025
The major-sevenths, by stuffing four notes into the chords, offered greater harmonic options, and Sikes was determined to take advantage of them, encouraging Wayne to incorporate the dissonant notes into her high harmonies.
—Tom Roland, Billboard, 22 Apr. 2025
And there’s a blunt, pulp poetry to Manny’s conclusion (if not a particularly sensitive one), driven to despair by an inability to live in the dissonant but very real space between one’s religious moral compass and the realities of one’s life.
—Andy Andersen, Vulture, 18 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for dissonant
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Seth Matlins, Forbes.com, 14 Apr. 2025
The book cover, showing a happy couple on a beach accompanied by a dog with a stick in its mouth, seems cheerily dissonant.
—Julio Ojeda-Zapata, Twin Cities, 29 Mar. 2025
The major-sevenths, by stuffing four notes into the chords, offered greater harmonic options, and Sikes was determined to take advantage of them, encouraging Wayne to incorporate the dissonant notes into her high harmonies.
—Tom Roland, Billboard, 22 Apr. 2025
And there’s a blunt, pulp poetry to Manny’s conclusion (if not a particularly sensitive one), driven to despair by an inability to live in the dissonant but very real space between one’s religious moral compass and the realities of one’s life.
—Andy Andersen, Vulture, 18 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for dissonant
Cite this Entry
“Dissonant.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dissonant. Accessed 21 May. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share