DISCORDANT

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does discordant mean? 

• DISCORDANT (adjective)
  The adjective DISCORDANT has 2 senses:

1. not in agreement or harmony

2. lacking in harmony

  Familiarity information: DISCORDANT used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DISCORDANT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Not in agreement or harmony

Context example:

views discordant with present-day ideas

Similar:

at variance; discrepant; dissonant (not in accord)

dissentious; divisive; factious (dissenting (especially dissenting with the majority opinion))

Antonym:

accordant (being in agreement or harmony; often followed by 'with')

Derivation:

discord (be different from one another)

discordance (strife resulting from a lack of agreement)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Lacking in harmony

Synonyms:

discordant; disharmonious; dissonant; inharmonic

Similar:

inharmonious; unharmonious (not in harmony)

Derivation:

discord (be different from one another)

discordance (a harsh mixture of sounds)

 Context examples 

We looked at each other in a bewildered silence, which was broken by a discordant burst of derisive laughter from Professor Summerlee.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When it was over, and Mugridge was back in the galley, he became greasily radiant, and went about his work, humming coster songs in a nerve-racking and discordant falsetto.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Young man, said he, I know not who you may be, and I am not much inclined to bestir myself, but if it were not that I am bent upon taking my ease, I swear, by the sword of Joshua! that I would lay my dog-whip across your shoulders for daring to fill the air with these discordant bellowings.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

However, as they had left their cars blocking the road a harsh discordant din from those in the rear had been audible for some time and added to the already violent confusion of the scene.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)