discordant
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
Not in accord or harmony.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dihskawrduhntSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
dɪsˈkɔɹdənt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
chiefly in the plural
A thing which is not in accord or harmony with one or more other things.
adjective
Not in agreement or harmony
Not in accord or harmony; conflicting, incompatible.
also figurative
Of sounds: harsh, jarring; specifically (music), of musical notes or tunes: not in harmony; dissonant, inharmonious.
Of a coastline: having bands of different types of rock running transversely to the coast, leading to the formation of alternating bays and headlands.
Of people: disagreeing with each other; dissenting, quarrelsome.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
- Typical Use
- Varies by meaning
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A thing which is not in accord or harmony with one or more other things.
Used this way, discordant is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. This is a musical use: it is everyday language among musicians and listeners, and specialised outside that.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Music/performance
- Arts writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use discordant
- “Views discordant with present-day ideas.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Antonyms
Sense: not in agreement or harmony
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.