as in debate
variance of opinion on a matter
a democracy relies on dissensus as much as on consensus
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Recent Examples of dissensus
These dramas of politics — each involving the high court’s first black justice — arrive at a singularly contentious political moment in an atmosphere of angry, sometimes violent dissensus.
—
Manohla Dargis and A.o. Scott, New York Times, 7 Sep. 2017
Manohla Dargis and A.o. Scott, New York Times, 7 Sep. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dissensus
Noun
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Denzel Washington has his own take on the cancel culture debate.—
Giana Levy,
Variety,
16 Aug. 2025
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The debate also drew contrasts between American and European dining.—
Darlin Tillery,
MSNBC Newsweek,
16 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Jake is a single father who has brought Kristen up in the severe Calvinist tradition, marked by Bible disputations of Talmudic intricacy and by a radical detachment from secular and popular culture.—
Richard Brody,
The New Yorker,
8 Sep. 2023
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Seven decades later, this culture of disputation emerged as a central theme in Timothy Garton Ash’s The Magic Lantern, his eyewitness report on the Eastern European revolutions of 1989.—
Susie Linfield,
The New York Review of Books,
11 May 2022
Noun
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The notice comes in the midst of a broader legal dispute between Wilson and The Deb's producers.—
Wesley Stenzel,
EW.com,
8 Aug. 2025
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Peter was working on Chime’s internal tools for managing customer support and disputes.—
Jeff Kauflin,
Forbes.com,
7 Aug. 2025
Noun
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The controversy kicked off in June when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced its plans to resume using diquat and other herbicides to combat the spread of invasive hydrilla along the river.—
John Moritz,
Hartford Courant,
12 Aug. 2025
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Super Micro has faced significant controversy over the past year, including allegations of accounting irregularities, delays in SEC filings, and scrutiny from short-sellers.—
Trefis Team,
Forbes.com,
12 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Lose your only Harmonizer, and a small disagreement can turn into a productivity-killing feud.—
Mark Murphy,
Forbes.com,
12 Aug. 2025
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What started as a financial disagreement quickly turned into a tense family standoff.—
Tereza Shkurtaj,
People.com,
10 Aug. 2025
Noun
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But in practice, the liberal rhetoric that underpinned the order set off processes that eventually led to the suppression of contestation.—
STACIE E. GODDARD,
Foreign Affairs,
28 July 2025
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Barby Rodriguez, the Chief of Staff at the Clerk of Courts and Comptroller, said that as of this morning, the sheriff’s office has filed 1,364 contestations in the statewide E-Filing portal.—
Clara-Sophia Daly,
Miami Herald,
11 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Dissensus.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dissensus. Accessed 19 Aug. 2025.
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