discrepancy

noun

dis·​crep·​an·​cy di-ˈskre-pən-sē 

plural discrepancies

1

: the quality or state of disagreeing or being at variance

2

: an instance of disagreeing or being at variance

Synonyms

• contrast
• difference
• disagreement
• disparateness
• disparity
• dissimilarity
• dissimilitude
• distance
• distinction
• distinctiveness
• distinctness
• diverseness
• diversity
• otherness
• unlikeness

Examples of discrepancy in a Sentence

Dr. Derman, who spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs and became managing director, was a forerunner of the many physicists and other scientists who have flooded Wall Street in recent years, moving from a world in which a discrepancy of a few percentage points in a measurement can mean a Nobel Prize or unending mockery to a world in which a few percent one way can land you in jail and a few percent the other way can win you your own private Caribbean island. —Dennis Overbye, New York Times, 9 Mar. 2009

Why the difference? Why are some individuals so outwardly altered by time and others not? Or, in other words, why is there often a discrepancy between chronological age and biological age? —Time, 17 Oct. 2005

If an article is on one machine but not the other, a copy is made to eliminate the discrepancy. —Simson Garfinkel, Technology Review, November 2001

The discrepancy can't be written off simply as lack of data, because it shows up in one of the best-studied periods in Earth's history … —Tim Appenzeller, Science, 12 Feb. 1993

Discrepancies in the firm's financial statements led to an investigation.

There were discrepancies between their accounts of the accident.

Recent Examples on the Web

When asked about this discrepancy, the DFSS spokeswoman told the Tribune that De Giraud D’Agay had been wearing a hospital wristband when he was found dead. —Sylvan Lebrun, Chicago Tribune, 3 Nov. 2024

Milan is the place par excellence to describe this discrepancy. —Marcello Junior Dino, Billboard, 23 Oct. 2024

Jimmy Kimmel pointed out the discrepancy between the two candidates during his late night show on Monday, saying that along with not releasing his medical report, Trump has failed to release his tax returns and healthcare plan for America. —Charisma Madarang, Rolling Stone, 15 Oct. 2024

An Arizona voter roll discrepancy, discovered just weeks ago, further threatened to sow distrust in this year’s election. —Faith E. Pinho, Los Angeles Times, 3 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

earlier discrepance in same sense (borrowed from Latin discrepantia, derivative of discrepant-, discrepans, present participle of discrepāre "to differ in sound, be out of tune, be inconsistent") + -ancy — more at discrepant

First Known Use

1579, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

discrepancy

noun

dis·​crep·​an·​cy dis-ˈkrep-ən-sē 

plural discrepancies

1

: the quality or state of being different : disagreement

a great discrepancy between the two reports

2

: something that is different or that disagrees

discrepancies in the firm's financial statements