discordant

adjective

dis·​cor·​dant di-ˈskȯr-dᵊnt How to pronounce discordant (audio)
1
a
: being at variance : disagreeing
discordant opinions
b
: quarrelsome
a discordant family
2
music : relating to a discord (see discord entry 1 sense 2)
a discordant tone
discordantly adverb

Did you know?

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).

Examples of discordant in a Sentence

She has the difficult task of bringing together a number of discordant elements. discordant tones coming from the poorly tuned instrument
Recent Examples on the Web This has made for the one discordant note in the otherwise over-the-moon reception by the Left of the president’s State of the Union address. Rich Lowry, National Review, 11 Mar. 2024 For opponents of the measures, who sought to convince their right-leaning hometown that its leadership had gone too far, the results were a bitter end to a discordant campaign that pitted neighbors against each other and had both sides harking back to a time when city politics wasn’t so acerbic. Reis Thebault, Washington Post, 8 Mar. 2024 Meanwhile, between the flashing lights and thrown chairs, Travis Scott’s discordant Utopia medley felt like too much too late. Jennifer Zhan, Vulture, 5 Feb. 2024 The peculiarly discordant values — roughly 67 versus 73 — have ignited a fiery debate in cosmology that is still unresolved. Quanta Magazine, 19 Jan. 2024 Sun Ra and company summon a discordant, yet oddly gorgeous sound that beams into your head like a transmission from an alien consciousness beyond our comprehension. Saby Reyes-Kulkarni, SPIN, 20 Dec. 2023 But, with American democracy so threatened from within, such rhetoric has often sounded discordant, implying a resolve and unity that the West simply does not possess. Susan B. Glasser, The New Yorker, 14 Dec. 2023 Journalism professor Jeff Jarvis was the hearing’s only discordant voice. Kate Knibbs, WIRED, 10 Jan. 2024 Both Batiste and Heineman lean into vulnerability and discomfort, telling an intimate tale: Batiste with sometimes purposefully discordant music and Heineman holding close, intimate, extended shots full of tension. Michelle Garcia, NBC News, 9 Dec. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'discordant.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

see discord entry 2

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of discordant was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near discordant

Cite this Entry

“Discordant.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discordant. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

discordant

adjective
dis·​cord·​ant
dis-ˈkȯrd-ᵊnt
1
a
: not being in agreement
discordant opinions
b
: quarrelsome
a discordant family
2
: relating to or producing a discord
discordant music
discordantly adverb

Medical Definition

discordant

adjective
dis·​cor·​dant dis-ˈkȯrd-ᵊnt How to pronounce discordant (audio)
of twins
: dissimilar with respect to one or more particular characters compare concordant
discordance noun

More from Merriam-Webster on discordant

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