dissonances

noun

plural of dissonance
as in discords
a lack of agreement or harmony the dissonance between what we are told and what we see with our own eyes

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of dissonances Diné weaver Marilou Schultz has been probing the harmonies and dissonances between these technologies since the 1960s. — Lua Vollaard, ARTnews.com, 24 June 2026 With a laugh, the British native charmingly embraces any international dissonances in play. — Christopher Smith, Oc Register, 27 May 2026 Instruments and voices accumulate into immense, sustained, saturating dissonances, with a snare drum cutting through the tear-gas haze. — Alex Ross, New Yorker, 18 May 2026 From Zehetmair’s searching dissonances, the SPCO moved into Brahms’ Double Concerto, performed by concertmaster Steven Copes and principal cello Julie Albers. — Sheila Regan, Twin Cities, 13 Sep. 2025 Although the relocation of a very Nordic communitarian milieu to a British setting creates its own cultural dissonances, the end result is a nifty ethical puzzle about balancing the needs of individuals versus those of the community. — Leslie Felperin, HollywoodReporter, 7 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dissonances
  1. discords
  2. frictions
  3. conflicts
  4. schisms
  5. wars
Noun
  • Your dedicated Slack channels, private discords and endless Reddit threads.
    — April Uchitel, Flow Space, 6 Aug. 2025
  • In every case, physical science, which is based on the evidence reported by these limited and limiting senses, eventually leaves us stranded with the conviction that sickness, accidents, and disasters – discords of every description, regardless of the apparent cause – are real and inevitable.
    — Lisa Rennie Sytsma, Christian Science Monitor, 20 June 2025
Definition of discords
Noun
  • Although many top‑level policy frameworks read promisingly, structural frictions create risk that reforms won’t deliver limited real‑world impact, Tang said.
    — Russell Flannery, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2026
  • Wuthering Heights In Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte presents a world of conflicts, frictions between families, passions, and attachments—especially those of Catherine Earnshaw and the tortured Heathcliff—across an untamed landscape.
    — Caroline Rogers, Southern Living, 22 Aug. 2026
Definition of frictions
Noun
  • The players air their grievances, which are essentially a pile of petty conflicts and resentments that, as Alice warned, can be traced back to the team fracturing into cliques.
    — Keith Phipps, Vulture, 26 Aug. 2026
  • Mia Wasikowska perfectly embodies the role of Agata, a writer returning to her home continent, seeking to understand and reconnect with the wounds of the recent past, and with the ways in which unresolved conflicts continue to echo in the present.
    — Leo Barraclough, Variety, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of conflicts
Noun
  • This turns into a big argument about Issa being a weird little guy, and suddenly there are multiple potential roommate schisms in the house.
    — Ben Rosenstock, Vulture, 28 Aug. 2026
  • Yet since she was rescued in bad shape in mid-July and transferred to the Ojai Raptor Center for treatment, schisms have formed.
    — Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of schisms
Noun
  • Netanyahu and Erdogan have a long-running public feud, which intensified dramatically during the wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.
    — Tal Shalev, CNN Money, 25 Aug. 2026
  • This came out in 2012, in that awkward growing-pains stage between the early post-teenybopper rebellion of Can’t Be Tamed and the suffocating culture wars of Bangerz.
    — Rebecca Alter, Vulture, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of wars

Browse Nearby Words

dissonance
dissonances
dissonant
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Cite this Entry

“Dissonances.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dissonances. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

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