as in shrill
marked by or producing a harsh combination of sounds
a dissonant chorus of noises arose from the busy construction site
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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.
Recent Examples of dissonant
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
What’s especially dissonant is watching Kenya, once a frequent target of this exact brand of mean girl theatrics, weaponize that same energy with alarming precision.
—Shelby Stewart, Essence, 14 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for 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
What’s especially dissonant is watching Kenya, once a frequent target of this exact brand of mean girl theatrics, weaponize that same energy with alarming precision.
—Shelby Stewart, Essence, 14 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for dissonant
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dissonant
Adjective
-
Their bathroom floor also pooled with water after showering, and noise from other apartments, like the shrill beeps of a low-battery smoke detector next door, carried through the paper-thin walls.—
Matthew Sedacca,
Curbed,
22 Apr. 2025
-
As such, The Studio is shrill and talky, its chaotic scenes sparked by random performers like Charlize Theron, Zac Efron, Olivia Wilde and Sarah Polley, all of whom want something from Remick.—
Peter Bart,
Deadline,
10 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
The sheer volume of content created far outpaces what audiences can consume, leading to a noisy, crowded digital ecosystem.—
Luca Brinkhues,
Forbes.com,
4 June 2025
-
Its lineup interspersed noisy no wave groups like Pop Music Fever Dream and Pure Adult, upbeat pop-rock performances from bands like Um, Jennifer?—
Grace Robins-Somerville,
Pitchfork,
4 June 2025
Adjective
-
Baltimore deserves credit for stepping up and sending Tullis-Joyce the wrong way, particularly against a cacophonous backdrop of angry United fans behind that goal.—
Michael Cox,
New York Times,
18 May 2025
-
Episode 2, set at Jamie’s school just a few days after the incident, thrives in the chaos of innumerable moving pieces as kids push through crowded passageways, cram inside cacophonous classrooms, and even parade out to the playground during an unexpected fire drill.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
13 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
Castillo’s short novel is a giddy character study of an unpleasant young male type.—
Jasmine Vojdani,
Vulture,
2 June 2025
-
To neutralize unpleasant smells, add a few pots of aromatic herbs, like rosemary and lavender.—
The Washington Post,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
31 May 2025
Adjective
-
Homes, bars, and dance halls pulsed with sound in a discordant, desperate attempt to stave off death.—
Christina Coulter,
People.com,
4 June 2025
-
His India would define itself through diversity; through a grand, maternal embrace of all its discordant parts.—
Robert F. Worth,
The Atlantic,
2 Jan. 2025
Adjective
-
The metallic leather cap toe and stiletto heel offered a clean contrast to the transparent PVC sides — an effect that mirrored the gown’s interplay of opaque velvet and sheer lace.—
Maggie Clancy,
Footwear News,
2 June 2025
-
Triangle swimsuit top metallic skin: $60 Remove and add padding as needed to this metallic triangle swimsuit top.—
Christopher Murray
may earn a commission if you buy through our referral links. This content was created by a team that works independently from the Fox newsroom.,
FOXNews.com,
31 May 2025
Adjective
-
Those songs remind Omara of real people and real events, political interludes whose senselessness and brutality have left unmusical lacunae in her life.—
Vinson Cunningham,
The New Yorker,
18 Dec. 2023
-
His parents were unmusical Russian-Jewish immigrants who ran various businesses with mixed success.—
The Economist,
The Economist,
3 Oct. 2019
Adjective
-
Setting Discordant Personal Goals A 2023 study published in Current Psychology finds that partners’ inharmonious goals can have detrimental effects on relationships.—
Mark Travers,
Forbes,
29 Mar. 2024
-
For sixteen hours a week, Valentine hopes to share some melody in a place that, for some, can feel inharmonious.—
Washington Post,
Washington Post,
24 July 2021
Cite this Entry
“Dissonant.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dissonant. Accessed 10 Jun. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share