as in discord
a lack of agreement or harmony
the dissonance between what we are told and what we see with our own eyes
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of dissonance
There’s a beguiling dissonance between the hushed voiceover and the images of ships carrying cables and dropping them in the ocean for the internet to reach the island.
—
Murtada Elfadl, Variety, 20 Mar. 2026
Conductors often fetishize the opening bars of this opera, their squirmy alternation of silence and piquant dissonance.
—Justin Davidson, Vulture, 11 Mar. 2026
The news points to a dissonance between headlines about the ostensibly relentless march of Chinese AI firms and the challenges those firms face.
—Prashant Rao, semafor.com, 6 Mar. 2026
The dissonance doesn’t phase him.
—Sam Stone, Bon Appetit Magazine, 6 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for dissonance
Murtada Elfadl, Variety, 20 Mar. 2026
Conductors often fetishize the opening bars of this opera, their squirmy alternation of silence and piquant dissonance.
—Justin Davidson, Vulture, 11 Mar. 2026
The news points to a dissonance between headlines about the ostensibly relentless march of Chinese AI firms and the challenges those firms face.
—Prashant Rao, semafor.com, 6 Mar. 2026
The dissonance doesn’t phase him.
—Sam Stone, Bon Appetit Magazine, 6 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for dissonance
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dissonance
Noun
-
Officials say a goal of the attacks is to undermine support for Ukraine, spread fear and discord in European societies and drain investigative resources.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
15 Apr. 2026
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Attempts to sow discord and prevent extended defunding from being included must be put aside.—
Emily Brooks,
The Hill,
14 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Change one thing that reduces friction or saves time, then build from there.—
Tarot.com,
New York Daily News,
25 Apr. 2026
-
Meanwhile, given the growing demand and often better profitability in overseas markets, Chinese automakers have been shifting from exporting cars from China to building more factories overseas, including in Hungary and Turkey, to increase supplies abroad and avert trade friction.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
24 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Part of that discordance might be the fact that as a genre, rock has historically been difficult to define.—
Hannah Dailey,
Billboard,
19 Nov. 2025
-
The sport of off-roading suffers from a fundamental discordance: The desire to get out into nature and the irreparable harm inherent in the process of off-roading.—
Tim Stevens,
ArsTechnica,
25 July 2025
Noun
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Planting shrubs that can grow as high as two stories is a way to combat some of the strife caused by the traffic.—
Jeff Vorva,
Chicago Tribune,
26 Apr. 2026
-
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Friday that the EU is ready to work with Persian Gulf countries for new projects conveying energy to global markets that wouldn’t be held hostage to war or geopolitical strife.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
25 Apr. 2026
Noun
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But none of these conflicts affected so many corners of the world as swiftly as the Iran war.—
Sudarsan Raghavan,
New Yorker,
28 Apr. 2026
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While they are all expected to leave interest rates unchanged, investors are keen to know how officials view the inflation threat posed by the oil shock stemming from the US-Iran conflict.—
Ashutosh Joshi,
Bloomberg,
27 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The discordancy is so intriguing — like learning that Katharine Graham went to nude encounter sessions at Esalen, or Alan Greenspan was once in a Lynyrd Skynyrd cover band.—
New York Times,
New York Times,
17 Nov. 2021
Noun
-
Khanna said the war will increase costs by $5,000 for American households.—
Christopher Cann,
USA Today,
30 Apr. 2026
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Hegseth also had contentious exchanges about the war in Iran, trading broadsides with Democratic lawmakers over the strategic direction of the war and costs to Americans at home and abroad.—
Washington Post,
Washington Post,
29 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Coming up in the nineteen-sixties, his childhood coincided with a schism in Black politics.—
Doreen St. Félix,
New Yorker,
25 Apr. 2026
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By yesterday, the administration had decided to give the country through the weekend to resolve its regime schism.—
Jonathan Chait,
The Atlantic,
23 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Dissonance.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dissonance. Accessed 1 May. 2026.
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