1
as in shrill
marked by or producing a harsh combination of sounds
discordant tones coming from the poorly tuned instrument
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in noisy
making loud, confused, and usually unharmonious sounds
the discordant cries of gulls fighting over the fishing boat's castoffs
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in aggressive
feeling or displaying eagerness to fight
a troubled, discordant family that would benefit from professional counseling
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
4
as in conflicting
not being in agreement or harmony
his views on the proper role of diet in maintaining good health are certainly discordant with most contemporary opinions on the subject
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of discordant
The discordant, Bernard Herrmann-esque bursts of María Portugal’s rich score ratchet up the suspense and foreboding.
—
Sheri Linden, HollywoodReporter, 14 May 2026
Unproductively, in the confines of the smaller-scale Fyda-Mar stage, the discordant sensory barrage director Oanh Nguyen brings to bear landed on at least one theatergoer as an agitated, irritating distraction.
—Christopher Smith, Oc Register, 13 May 2026
Fortunately, the play’s second act packs a gut-punch that almost makes one forget about the discordant way the first ended.
—Ellise Shafer, Variety, 1 Apr. 2026
Together the flavor is muddled, slightly discordant, but alone the Irish whiskey gets to sing, its apples and pears and slight malt and gentle touch a perfect foil to the zesty front palate of the lemon and the deep finish of the almonds.
—Jeremy Repanich, Robb Report, 14 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for discordant
Sheri Linden, HollywoodReporter, 14 May 2026
Unproductively, in the confines of the smaller-scale Fyda-Mar stage, the discordant sensory barrage director Oanh Nguyen brings to bear landed on at least one theatergoer as an agitated, irritating distraction.
—Christopher Smith, Oc Register, 13 May 2026
Fortunately, the play’s second act packs a gut-punch that almost makes one forget about the discordant way the first ended.
—Ellise Shafer, Variety, 1 Apr. 2026
Together the flavor is muddled, slightly discordant, but alone the Irish whiskey gets to sing, its apples and pears and slight malt and gentle touch a perfect foil to the zesty front palate of the lemon and the deep finish of the almonds.
—Jeremy Repanich, Robb Report, 14 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for discordant
Recent Examples of Synonyms for discordant
Adjective
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On shrill winter nights, Moscow’s power is conspicuous, its Orthodox cathedrals and Stalinist high-rises illuminated, though the view falls dim in the autumn and spring, shrouded in sheets of greige.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Apr. 2026
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The chaos is still an acceptable price to pay for Birney’s expertly offputting performance, a shrill mania that gets increasingly comic over time.—
Alison Herman,
Variety,
26 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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With the spin-off and FDX adopting a new fiscal calendar, Wells cautioned that next week's earnings report could be noisy.—
Jim Cramer,
CNBC,
17 June 2026
-
With the scramble to build data centers and their voracious appetite for electricity, many centers are building their own noisy, off-grid, diesel- or gas-fired power plants.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
16 June 2026
Adjective
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That was a fun one, with both teams staying aggressive throughout the match.—
Andrew Greif,
NBC news,
16 June 2026
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That more aggressive posture has been exemplified in Lewis George's smaller jousts with the mayor over housing and public safety policies, too.—
Phillip M. Bailey,
USA Today,
16 June 2026
Adjective
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County election officials have received conflicting advice about how to count votes in case the legislature fails to extend the deadline or implement a new voting system.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
18 June 2026
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Yet decades of conflicting messages about hormone therapy have left many women uncertain about what to believe.—
Lauryn Higgins,
Flow Space,
17 June 2026
Adjective
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As things got crazier with our heroes and the Supes, things became more dissonant.—
Jim Hemphill,
IndieWire,
12 June 2026
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That question is at the crux of Irish filmmaker John Carney’s sixth sometimes magical, at times tonally dissonant solo directorial feature.—
Randy Myers,
Mercury News,
3 June 2026
Adjective
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Trump’s birthday began with a new round of Israeli military strikes in Beirut, which the country said was in response to projectiles fired by the militant group Hezbollah at Israel.—
Zac Anderson,
USA Today,
15 June 2026
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Israel’s military said the militant group launched three projectiles, releasing video in which an audible boom was followed by rising smoke.—
Julia Frankel,
Los Angeles Times,
14 June 2026
Adjective
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Debra Shore, a former administrator of the EPA’s Midwestern office who lives part time in Michigan City, said the federal proposal could create inconsistent protections throughout the Great Lakes — notably neighboring states like Indiana and Illinois.—
Christiana Freitag,
Chicago Tribune,
13 June 2026
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The zipper merge also helps vehicles avoid coming to a complete stop, which can lead to sudden lane switching, inconsistent driving speeds that cause crashes, long back-ups and road rage.—
Rashad Alexander,
Kansas City Star,
13 June 2026
Adjective
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Jesus proved over and over again the all-encompassing authority of God, which destroys all inharmonious conditions, including sin and disease.—
Thomas Mitchinson,
Christian Science Monitor,
30 Sep. 2025
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Setting Discordant Personal Goals A 2023 study published in Current Psychology finds that partners’ inharmonious goals can have detrimental effects on relationships.—
Mark Travers,
Forbes,
29 Mar. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Discordant.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/discordant. Accessed 20 Jun. 2026.
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