cacophony
Americannoun
plural
cacophonies-
harsh or unpleasant discordance of sound; dissonance.
After living in the country, it's difficult for me to adjust to the cacophony produced by city traffic.
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a discordant and meaningless mixture of sounds.
The sound effects included a cacophony of hoots, cackles, and wails.
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Music. frequent use of harsh, discordant notes or chords that seem to be patternless and without connection to each other.
noun
-
harsh discordant sound; dissonance
-
the use of unharmonious or dissonant speech sounds in language
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of cacophony
First recorded in 1650–60; from New Latin cacophonia, from Greek kakophōnía; equivalent to caco- + -phony
Explanation
A cacophony is a mishmash of unpleasant sounds, often at loud volume. It's what you'd hear if you gave instruments to a group of four-year-olds and asked them to play one of Beethoven's symphonies. A cacophony is a jarring, discordant mix of sounds that have no business being played together. When the orchestra tunes up before a show, it sounds like a cacophony because each musician is playing a completely different tune, at different times, and at different volumes. Once the show begins, that cacophony had better turn into a melody, or audiences will demand a refund. This allegedly occurred during the first time Igor Stravinsky's score for the ballet "The Rite of Spring" was performed because its difficult composition and discordant tone was shocking.
Vocabulary lists containing cacophony
Fahrenheit 451
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Rhetoric
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Grade 10, List 2
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
With the rapturous cacophony this scene brings to mind, it is surprising to learn that Payawal created all of her pieces in silence.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 13, 2026
The Empire State Building in bustling Manhattan is now equipped with super sensitive microphones, tuning into bird calls and the slightest flutter of insects amid the cacophony of the concrete jungle.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 2, 2026
Lam Thanh, 50, who manages a dormitory for workers near one of Ho Chi Minh City's estimated 1,000 courts, says the cacophony is proving to be costly.
From Barron's • Dec. 28, 2025
Gunn’s favorite band Foxy Shazam provides the second season’s theme song, “Oh Lord,” a joyful cacophony of balls-to-the-wall distorted guitar, piano, trumpet blasts and Eric Nally’s energetic tenor vocals.
From Salon • Dec. 14, 2025
Sometimes she brushed her fingers against the keys, making them clatter and clank until the small room was a cacophony of noise.
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
