discordant
adjective
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Discord, a word more common in earlier centuries than today, means basically "conflict", so discordant often means "conflicting". The opinions of Supreme Court justices are frequently discordant; justices who disagree with the Court's decision usually write a dissenting opinion. Discordant is often used with a somewhat musical meaning, suggesting that a single wrong note or harmony has been heard in the middle of a performance—even though musical words such as chord actually come from a different Latin word, meaning "cord" or "string" (a reference to the strings of ancient instruments such as the lyre).
Synonyms
Examples of discordant in a Sentence
Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 9 Oct. 2024
Descriptions also bear an alien, computer imprint in their discordant and nearly nonsensical images.
—Tom Comitta, WIRED, 9 May 2023
The discordant economic views among experts and typical Americans reflects several factors.
—Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 18 Oct. 2024
Batiste told IndieWire that the sharp, sometimes discordant, sometimes howling cues could still work hand-in-hand with the film’s sound design and editing rhythm because the point was never to have every element in the film line up neatly.
—Sarah Shachat, IndieWire, 13 Oct. 2024
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Dictionary Entries Near discordant
Cite this Entry
“Discordant.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discordant. Accessed 19 Nov. 2024.
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discordant
adjective
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