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discordant

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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WOTD – 4 August 2025

Etymology

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From Late Middle English discordaunt (“(adjective) not in accord or harmony; dissonant; (noun) element not in accord or harmony”),[1] from Anglo-Norman descorda(u)nt, discorda(u)nt, Middle French descordant, discordant, and Old French descordant, discordant (“of people: quarrelsome; of things: in disagreement, at variance”) (modern French discordant), an adjective use of the present participle of descorder, discorder (“to fail to agree or harmonize, clash, disagree, discord”),[2] from Latin discordāre, the present active infinitive of discordō (“to disagree, quarrel with”),[3] from discors (“discordant, different, inharmonious”) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs). Discors is derived from dis- (“prefix meaning ‘apart, in two’”) + cor (“heart; (figurative) mind; soul”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱḗr (“heart”)). By surface analysis, discord (noun) +‎ -ant (suffix forming adjectives from nouns with the sense ‘exhibiting [the condition or process described by the noun]’).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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discordant (comparative more discordant, superlative most discordant)

  1. Not in accord or harmony; conflicting, incompatible.
    Synonyms: (archaic) absonant, (obsolete) absonous, at variance, disconsonant, discordable, inaccordant, (obsolete) inconcinnous, incongruent, inconsonant, nonconcordant, (figurative) unwedded
    Antonyms: accordant, concordant, consonant, nondiscordant, undiscordant
    • 1651, Thomas Hobbes, “Of Civill Lawes”, in Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme, & Power of a Common-wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civill, London: […] [William Wilson] for Andrew Crooke, […], →OCLC, 2nd part (Of Common-wealth), page 140:
      For it is poſſible long ſtudy may encreaſe, and confirm erroneous Sentences: and vvhere men build on falſe grounds, the more they build, the greater is the ruine: and of thoſe that ſtudy, and obſerve vvith equall time, and diligence, the reaſons and reſolutions are, and muſt remain diſcordant: […]
    • a. 1677 (date written), Matthew Hale, “Touching the Excellency of the Humane Nature in General”, in The Primitive Origination of Mankind, Considered and Examined According to the Light of Nature, London: […] William Godbid, for William Shrowsbery, […], published 1677, →OCLC, section I, page 57:
      [T]hat vvhich vve call Conſcience is to be referred, namely, if by a due compariſon of things done vvith the rule, there be a conſonancy follovvs the ſentence Approbation; if diſcordant from it, the ſentence of Condemnation.
    • 1781 (date written), William Cowper, “Expostulation”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1782, →OCLC, page 118:
      Thy ſenate is a ſcene of civil jar, / Chaos of contrarieties at vvar, / VVhere ſharp and ſolid, phlegmatic and light, / Diſcordant atoms meet, ferment and fight, […]
    • 1824, Walter Savage Landor, “Preface”, in Imaginary Conversations of Literary Men and Statesmen, volume I, London: […] Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page xi:
      If, after all, he should experience an evil or unpleasant impression, let him throw aside first these volumes, as the lightest; then Cicero, Demosthenes, and every one else whose political notions, so discordant from those now prevalent, are represented in them; […]
    • 1869, William Ewart Gladstone, “Resemblances and Differences between the Greeks and the Trojans”, in Juventus Mundi: The Gods and Men of the Heroic Age, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, pages 453–454:
      It is very probable, that Hephaistos and other deities may have been known under forms of tradition variously modified, in Troas and in Greece respectively; and, indeed, in different portions of one and the same country. These forms, however distinct or discordant, the plan of Homer required him in some manner to amalgamate.
    1. Of people: disagreeing with each other; dissenting, quarrelsome.
      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:quarrelsome
      • c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i (induction)], signature A2, recto:
        Rumour is a pipe, / Blovvne by ſurmizes, Iealouſies[,] coniectures, / And of ſo eaſie, and ſo plaine a ſtop, / That the blunt monſter, vvith vncounted heads, / The ſtill diſcordant vvau'ring multitude, / Can play vpon it.
      • 1680, Richard Baxter, “Of the Councils after Ignatius and Photius, and Some Others”, in Church-history of the Government of Bishops and Their Councils Abbreviated. […], London: […] [Bennet Griffin?] and are to be sold by John Kidgell, […], →OCLC, §. 51, page 273:
        Yet this Baſilius [Basil I, who had Michael III assassinated] vvaſhed his hands and made many Proteſtations that he had no hand in his blood. This made for the Popes advantage: VVomen and Rebels and Traytors and diſcordant Princes did much in raiſing him.
    2. (also figurative) Of sounds: harsh, jarring; specifically (music), of musical notes or tunes: not in harmony; dissonant, inharmonious.
      Synonyms: inharmonic, misharmonized, (US, slang) skronky; see also Thesaurus:cacophonous
      Antonyms: accordant, concordant, nondiscordant, undiscordant, (poetic, obsolete) undiscording
      • 1551, Thomas More, “The Second Boke of the Communycacion of Raphael Hythlodaye, Concernynge the Best State of a Commen Wealthe: Cõteynyng the Discription of Utopia, with a Large Declaration of the Godly Gouernement, and of All the Good Lawes and Orders of the Same Ilande. Of Their Iourneyenge or Trauaylynge Abrode, with Dyuers Other Matters Cunnyngly Reasoned ⁊ Wittilie Discussed.”, in Raphe Robynson [i.e., Ralph Robinson], transl., A Fruteful, and Pleasaunt Worke of the Best State of a Publyque Weale, and of the Newe Yle Called Utopia: […], London: […] [Steven Mierdman for] Abraham Vele, […], →OCLC, signatures [M.vi.], recto – [M.vi.], verso:
        [N]o other kind of liuing beaſtes both behold the fayrenes and the bewtie of the wordle[sic – meaning worlde], or is moued with anny reſpect of ſauours, but only for the diuerſity of meates, nother perceaueth the concordaunt and diſcordante diſtaunces of ſoundes, and tunes […]
      • 1675, [Richard Allestree], “Sect[ion] VIII. Of the Advantage of Afflictions.”, in The Art of Contentment. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: At the [Sheldonian] Theater […], →OCLC, paragraph 5, page 139:
        But hovv fatally ſecure ſhould vve be, if God ſhould permit this Syren alvvaies to entertain us vvith her muſic, and ſhould not by ſome diſcordant grating notes, interrupt our raptures, and recal us to ſober thoughts?
      • 1701 (date written), [William] Congreve, A Hymn to Harmony, Written in Honour of St. Cecilia’s Day, MDCCI. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], published 22 December 1702 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1703), →OCLC, stanza VI, page 5:
        VVar, vvith diſcordant Notes and jarring Noiſe, / The Harmony of Peace deſtroys.
        A figurative use.
      • 1785, William Cowper, “Book VI. The Winter Walk at Noon.”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson;  […], →OCLC, page 271:
        In the heart / No paſſion touches a diſcordant ſtring, / But all is harmony and love.
        A figurative use.
      • 1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, Lloyd Osbourne, “The Budget of the ‘Currency Lass’”, in The Wrecker, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, […], →OCLC, page 377:
        [T]rue, Mac's apology and subsequent behaviour rather raised him in the opinion of his fellow-castaways. But the discordant note had been struck, and its harmonics tingled in the brain.
        A figurative use.
      • 2021 September 15, Laura Martin, “How Talent Shows Became TV’s Most Bizarre Programmes”, in BBC Online‎[1], archived from the original on 22 July 2025:
        With this shift in both what shows are being made, and in what viewers desire, the genre hearteningly appears to be reverting to its roots of being an entertainment spectacular, giving the space for novelty and mad-cap amusement that's presented in a warm and humorous way. After a discordant patch, it's in tune again – even if some auditionees, as ever, are not.
        A figurative use.
  2. (geology, physical geography, originally US) Of a rock formation or other land feature, or its alignment: cutting across or transverse to neighbouring features.
    Antonym: concordant
    Dikes may be discordant to country rock if they intrude at a high angle to the bedding.
    1. Of a coastline: having bands of different types of rock running transversely to the coast, leading to the formation of alternating bays and headlands.
  3. (chiefly genetics) Of two similar subjects, especially twins: differing in some characteristic.
  4. (healthcare) Ellipsis of serodiscordant (“of a couple: with one partner HIV positive and the other HIV negative”).
  5. (mathematics, statistics) Of figures, etc.: having opposite signs (for example, positive and negative).
    Antonym: concordant

Alternative forms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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discordant (plural discordants)

  1. (chiefly in the plural) A thing which is not in accord or harmony with one or more other things.
    • 1910 November 17, “The International Agrogeological Congress at Stockholm”, in Nature: A Weekly Illustrated Journal of Science, volume 85, number 2142, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 89, column 1:
      In the process of dismemberment it must often happen that the true individuality of a soil is lost, so that schemes of laboratory classification sometimes arbitrarily separate agricultural similars and unite agricultural discordants.

Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “discō̆rdaunt, adj. and n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “discordant, adj. and n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2024; “discordant, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. ^ “discord, v.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2025; “discord, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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French

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Adjective

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discordant (feminine discordante, masculine plural discordants, feminine plural discordantes)

  1. discordant, dissonant
  2. grating, jarring

Further reading

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Latin

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Verb

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discordant

  1. third-person plural present active indicative of discordō

Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French discordant.

Adjective

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discordant m or n (feminine singular discordantă, masculine plural discordanți, feminine and neuter plural discordante)

  1. discordant

Declension

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Declension of discordant
singular plural
masculine neuter feminine masculine neuter feminine
nominative-
accusative 		indefinite discordant discordantă discordanți discordante
definite discordantul discordanta discordanții discordantele
genitive-
dative 		indefinite discordant discordante discordanți discordante
definite discordantului discordantei discordanților discordantelor
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