Synonyms for dissonant
- adjective
Most common
discordant cacophonous jarring tuneless inharmonious disharmonious
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Discordant — exhibiting dissonance; not agreeing; not harmonizing or melodizing
discordant, cacophonous, jarring, tuneless, incongruous, harsh, inconsistent, grating, cracked, unmelodious, cacophonic, incompatible, assorted
2. Inharmonious — exhibiting dissonance; not agreeing or harmonizing
Other
discrepant formal, unresolved, dissident, unharmonious, unaccordant, unmusical, absonant dated
Definitions
- adj. 1
Exhibiting dissonance; not agreeing; not harmonizing or melodizing.
The music was filled with dissonant chords.
- adj. 2
Exhibiting dissonance; not agreeing or harmonizing.
Related words
- Word family
- dissonancy
Example sentences
- jarring The transition between the scenes was jarring.
- discordant He laughed with a metallic and discordant sound.
- unresolved The issue of radioactive waste remains unresolved.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| dissonant | rising | |
| jarring | rising | |
| discordant | steady | |
| cacophonous | rising | |
| tuneless | rising | |
| unresolved | steady |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 5 letters
- harsh1
- 7 letters
- cracked1, grating2, jarring2
- 8 letters
- assorted3, tuneless, absonant
- 9 letters
- dissident3, unmusical
- 10 letters
- unresolved3, discordant3, discrepant, inharmonic, cacophonic
- 11 letters
- incongruous4, cacophonous, unmelodious, unaccordant
- 12 letters
- inconsistent4, incompatible5, inharmonious, unharmonious
- 13 letters
- disharmonious
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (grating2 = 2 syllables).