dissonance.

1. A combination of sounds that creates tension rather than a sense of settled harmony.

2. A mismatch between ideas, expectations, experiences, or attitudes that do not sit comfortably together.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• harmonic dissonance
• a dissonance in the score
• resolve a dissonance

On the page

A sustained dissonance trembled beneath the choir's otherwise gentle melody.

The composer left the final dissonance unresolved, as if the music were still waiting for an answer.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary. Forms: Usually uncountable; plural dissonances for individual discordant intervals or conflicts. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.