discordance
Americannoun
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a discordant state; disagreement; discord.
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an instance of this.
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Geology. lack of parallelism between adjacent strata, as in an angular unconformity.
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(in genetic studies) the degree of dissimilarity in a pair of twins with respect to the presence or absence of a disease or trait.
noun
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geology an arrangement of rock strata in which the older underlying ones dip at a different angle from the younger overlying ones; unconformity
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lack of agreement or consonance
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variants of discord
Etymology
Origin of discordance
1300–50; Middle English < Anglo-French discordaunce, descordance; see discord, -ance
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.
And that’s the discordance of our current crisis with what is in our constitutional tool kit.
From Slate ● Apr. 15, 2026
Something that creates the tension of discordance, but that feels like there is a sense of some kind of completion, even if it is like a bit of a sub-chapter.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 2025
Testing for apoB rather than LDL-C could identify people who are at high risk due to this discordance.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 8, 2024
There is also a weird thematic discordance when you consider that “Thrones” spent eight seasons showing us the destructive folly of cyclical power struggles, ultimately building to a resolution designed to leave all that behind.
From New York Times ● Aug. 21, 2022
I pounded my unease into the keys, hoping the discordance would drive him away, but he held on.
From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago
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.
