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dissonant - 4 dictionary results

dis⋅so⋅nant

  [dis-uh-nuhnt]
Use dissonant in a Sentence
–adjective
1. disagreeing or harsh in sound; discordant.
2. out of harmony; incongruous; at variance.
3. Music. characterized by dissonance.
Origin:
1400–50; late ME dissonaunte (< AF) < L dissonant- (s. of dissonāns, prp. of dissonāre to sound harsh), equiv. to disson- (deriv. of dissonus discordant; see dis- 1 , sound ) + -ant- -ant

Related forms:
dis⋅so⋅nant⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
2. incompatible, incongruent, inconsistent.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To dissonant
dis·so·nant   (dĭs'ə-nənt)   
adj.  
  1. Harsh and inharmonious in sound; discordant.
  2. Being at variance; disagreeing.
  3. Music Constituting or producing a dissonance.

[Middle English dissonaunt, from Old French dissonant, from Latin dissonāns, dissonant-, present participle of dissonāre, to be dissonant : dis-, apart; see dis- + sonāre, to sound; see swen- in Indo-European roots.]
dis'so·nant·ly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Dissonant

Dis"so*nant\, a. [L. dissonans, -antis, p. pr. of dissonare to disagree in sound, be discordant; dis- + sonare to sound: cf. F. dissonant. See Sonant.]

1. Sounding harshly; discordant; unharmonious.

With clamor of voices dissonant and loud. --Longfellow.

2. Disagreeing; incongruous; discrepant, -- with from or to. "Anything dissonant to truth." --South.

What can be dissonant from reason and nature than that a man, naturally inclined to clemency, should show himself unkind and inhuman? --Hakewill.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : dissonant
Spanish: disonancia,
German: die Dissonanz,
Japanese: 不協和音
More Translations »

dissonant 
1490, from L. dissonantem (nom. dissonans), prp. of dissonare "differ in sound," from dis- "apart" + sonare "to sound" (see sound (n.1)).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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