discordant
adjective
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Discord, a word more common in earlier centuries than today, means basically "conflict", so discordant often means "conflicting". The opinions of Supreme Court justices are frequently discordant; justices who disagree with the Court's decision usually write a dissenting opinion. Discordant is often used with a somewhat musical meaning, suggesting that a single wrong note or harmony has been heard in the middle of a performance—even though musical words such as chord actually come from a different Latin word, meaning "cord" or "string" (a reference to the strings of ancient instruments such as the lyre).
Synonyms
Examples of discordant in a Sentence
Josh Dawsey, Washington Post, 4 July 2024
He’s made his name by courting the absurd and keeping audiences on their toes, embellishing his fables of love, power and free will with discordant musical motifs and disarming cuts to a wide lens.
—Caitlin Chatterton, CNN, 2 July 2024
Twins are also more likely to have growth problems, such as one twin being larger than the other (a condition known as discordant twins).
—Pamela Prindle Fierro, Parents, 1 July 2024
In a prolific 30 years of performance across the globe and 16 studio albums, their unflagging devotion to that discordant aesthetic turned Moore and Gordon into the revered godparents of alternative and indie rock.
—Andres Viglucci, Miami Herald, 9 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for discordant 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'discordant.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Discordant.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discordant. Accessed 14 Jul. 2024.
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discordant
adjective
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