dissonance

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun a conflict of people's opinions or actions or characters
noun the auditory experience of sound that lacks musical quality; sound that is a disagreeable auditory experience
noun disagreeable sounds

Borrowed from Middle French dissonance, from Latin dissonantia; by surface analysis, dis- + son- + -ance.

Yet their dissonances are much more marked and fundamental. — India, Its Life and Thought, John P. (John Peter) Jones
This clash of sounds stuns one's ears with its rending dissonance. — The Hairy Ape, Eugene O'Neill
You put me in mind of the form and looks of Amodunt and Dissonance. — Gargantua and Pantagruel, François Rabelais

disagreement, dissension

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