dissonance

American  

[dis-uh-nuhns] / ˈdɪs ə nəns /

noun

dissonances plural

1. inharmonious or harsh sound; discord; cacophony.

2. Music.

   1. a simultaneous combination of tones conventionally accepted as being in a state of unrest and needing completion.

   2. an unresolved, discordant chord or interval.

3. disagreement or incongruity.

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dissonance British  

/ ˈdɪsənəns /

noun

1. a discordant combination of sounds

2. lack of agreement or consistency

3. music

   1. a sensation commonly associated with all intervals of the second and seventh, all diminished and augmented intervals, and all chords based on these intervals Compare consonance

   2. an interval or chord of this kind

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Usage

What does dissonance mean? Dissonance is harsh, inharmonious noise—cacophony. It can also refer to stark disagreement or lack of consistency. In both cases, a close synonym is discord. In the context of music, the word dissonance is used in a specific way to refer to a combination of sounds thought to be inharmonious (often ones intentionally composed to be so). It can also refer to a chord or interval that features such disharmony. In music and in general, dissonance is the opposite of consonance, which means harmony, agreement, or accord. In psychology, the term cognitive dissonance refers to the unease a person feels when they have two or more contradictory or incompatible beliefs. An adjective form of dissonance is dissonant. Example: Leaders in both factions of the party promised harmony, but so far there has been nothing but dissonance and constant arguing.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• dissonances
  plural

Etymology

Origin of dissonance

1565–75; < Late Latin dissonantia, equivalent to disson- ( see dissonant) + -antia -ance

Explanation

Disagreeable sounds can be called dissonance. You know it's dissonance if you have the strong desire to cover your ears with your hands. Racket, noise, dissonance — all can describe sounds that are not pleasant. While some musicians purposely add a little dissonance into their melodies to create an unexpected sound, others, like someone who just started drum lessons, creates dissonance by accident. Dissonance can also be a conflict between people or opinions, like the dissonance you feel when you want to do something but your parents say "no."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dissonance dissonances

Anchored on a near-orchestral soundstage, its 20 tracks ricochet from in-your-face punk dissonance to majestic broken-heart dirges, a lovely duet with St. Vincent, rootsy folk interludes and farfisa-rich lounge.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026

Emelyn Rude, author of Tastes Like Chicken: A History of America’s Favorite Bird, says “the shock comes from this dissonance: we don’t think of it as a luxury food.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026

Dwayne Johnson’s performance in “The Smashing Machine,” for all the film’s flaws, cleverly reconciled the dissonance between the outward images of masculine power and internal feelings of self-loathing.

From Salon ● May 27, 2026

As if this wasn’t ominous enough, the latest BofA Securities fund-manager’s survey shows that Wall Street is, once again, experiencing severe cognitive dissonance: It is simultaneously worried about the market, but afraid to sell.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 14, 2026

If a keyboard played its Gt while the violin played an F# it produced an unpleasant, headache-inducing dissonance.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

The word-painting in these arresting madrigal-style pieces, heightened by Gesualdo’s characteristic dissonances, is starkly immediate.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2025

To be an immigrant is to live in a fractured multiverse, one riven with geographic, temporal and psychical dissonances.

From Washington Post ● May 4, 2022

Everything about it, from the spare, enveloping details of Grant Major’s production design to the nerve-shredding dissonances of Jonny Greenwood’s score, directs our focus inward.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 8, 2022

He came closest to surprising in the cadenza he created for the first movement, which had ruminative dissonances and lively string crossings.

From New York Times ● Nov. 25, 2021

The king had his court musicians, one of whom was Bach’s son Carl Philipp Emanuel, devise a tune specially, one they mischievously knew was practically impossible to turn into a fugue without creating horrible dissonances.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

Related Words

• discord
• discrepancy
• disparity
• dissension
• incongruity