as in shrill
marked by or producing a harsh combination of sounds
a dissonant chorus of noises arose from the busy construction site
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Recent Examples of dissonant
These songs all have a beautiful sadness to them and have a pop mentality, but there is always something dissonant or tense about them at times, musically.
—
Liza Lentini, SPIN, 17 Jan. 2025
Relationships between objects are often obscure, dissonant.
—Jeremy Lybarger, ARTnews.com, 6 Jan. 2025
Some of the show's jazziest songs brought the listeners to unexpected places with funky dissonant sounds, instrumental solos and key changes.
—Audrey Gibbs, The Tennessean, 5 Nov. 2024
Centuries of grime has been wiped away to reveal an immaculate but aesthetically dissonant house of worship: a Gothic church that glistens.
—Joshua Berlinger, CNN, 7 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for dissonant
Liza Lentini, SPIN, 17 Jan. 2025
Relationships between objects are often obscure, dissonant.
—Jeremy Lybarger, ARTnews.com, 6 Jan. 2025
Some of the show's jazziest songs brought the listeners to unexpected places with funky dissonant sounds, instrumental solos and key changes.
—Audrey Gibbs, The Tennessean, 5 Nov. 2024
Centuries of grime has been wiped away to reveal an immaculate but aesthetically dissonant house of worship: a Gothic church that glistens.
—Joshua Berlinger, CNN, 7 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for dissonant
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dissonant
Adjective
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Shakespeare’s play assumes the shrieks and shrill cries of a B-movie.—
Charles McNulty,
Los Angeles Times,
19 Feb. 2025
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Crucially, there’s very little reason to care about how Simon and Claire will take the break-ups, when both are such unbearably shrill stereotypes.—
Wilson Chapman,
IndieWire,
27 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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To fix a noisy box spring, add sturdy material, such as thick cardboard or a thin piece of plywood in between the box spring and mattress.—
Yelena Moroz Alpert,
Architectural Digest,
27 Feb. 2025
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Despite being a man down, Ruben Amorim’s side were relatively comfortable in the second half as a noisy Old Trafford crowd enjoyed a win that increased the gap between the two teams to 16 points.—
Laurie Whitwell,
The Athletic,
26 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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But with the emergence of digital media, today's cacophonous environment features billions of podcasts, blogs, streaming channels, and social media influencer accounts that each cater to micro-viewerships with zero editorial oversight or accountability.—
Yaakov Katz,
Newsweek,
17 Jan. 2025
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There is a primordial quality to the woods that oscillates between cacophonous forest chatter and eerie silence in the space of a ridge or two.—
Laura Lancaster,
Outdoor Life,
2 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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These days however, an all-white or all-gray bathroom can act as an unpleasant symbol of an outdated trend, and may seem seriously lacking in pizazz.—
Hallie Milstein,
Southern Living,
25 Feb. 2025
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This can be an unpleasant odor for humans to encounter, but the critters in the video seem enthusiastic about interacting with the eau de skunk.—
Amanda Kooser,
Forbes,
25 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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Rule 10b5-1 trading plans came into the fold just over two decades ago to reconcile these two discordant facts.—
Kevin Stankiewicz,
CNBC,
18 Feb. 2025
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That puts a heavy burden on sound designers P.K. Hooker and Will Files, whose intrusive mix of creepy noises is often indistinguishable from Benjamin Wallfisch’s discordant score.—
Peter Debruge,
Variety,
15 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Think: her metallic foil fringe hairdo at 2019’s Way Out West Festival or literally any of her front row fashion week looks.—
India Espy-Jones,
Essence,
26 Feb. 2025
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To toughen yours up, add edgy accessories like lug-sole boots, a metallic top-handle bag, and an oversized black coat.—
Cortne Bonilla,
Vogue,
26 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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Those songs remind Omara of real people and real events, political interludes whose senselessness and brutality have left unmusical lacunae in her life.—
Vinson Cunningham,
The New Yorker,
18 Dec. 2023
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His parents were unmusical Russian-Jewish immigrants who ran various businesses with mixed success.—
The Economist,
The Economist,
3 Oct. 2019
Adjective
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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
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For sixteen hours a week, Valentine hopes to share some melody in a place that, for some, can feel inharmonious.—
Washington Post,
Washington Post,
24 July 2021
Cite this Entry
“Dissonant.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dissonant. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.
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