dissonant, a. (n.)
(ˈdɪsənənt)
[a. F. dissonant (13th c. in Littré), or ad. L. dissonānt-em, pr. pple. of dissonāre to disagree in sound, sound diversely, differ, f. dis- 1 + sonāre to sound.]
1. Disagreeing or discordant in sound, inharmonious; harsh-sounding, unmelodious, jarring.
| 1573 G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 117 Dissonant and iarring dittyes. 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. 71 Phi. Which distances make discord or dissonant sounds? Ma. All such as doe not make concords: as a second, a fourth, a seuenth. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 9 As for the Moone, mortall men imagine..[to] helpe her in such a case when she is eclipsed by dissonant ringing of basons. 1774 J. Bryant Mythol. I. 168 If the name was dissonant, and disagreeable to their ear, it was rejected as barbarous. 1876 tr. Blaserna's Sound vii. 109 To increase their resources..musicians have been obliged to have recourse to dissonant notes and chords. |
2. Out of agreement, accordance, or harmony, in any respect; disagreeing, incongruous, discordant, at variance, different. Const. from, to (rarely with). (The earlier sense in English.)
| 1490 Caxton Eneydos vii. 32 The maner of that countree..was all dissonaunt & dishoneste in regarde to that of Dydo. 1514 Cdl. Bainbridge in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. I. 226 Thynges..that be dissonant..to your Graces honour or welthe of your Realme. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage, Descr. India (1864) 151 Opinions not altogether dissonant from the Scriptures. 1613 Jackson Creed i. ix. §1. 44 His conceit is not dissonant vnto the sacred storie. 1769 Burke Late State Nat. Wks. 1842 I. 75 The interests..before that time jarring and dissonant, were..adjusted. 1792 A. Young Trav. France 260 An air of poverty and misery..quite dissonant to the general aspect of the country. 1856 G. Brimley Ess., Angel in Ho. 237 Very dissonant from the innermost spirit of the poem. 1857 Holland Bay Path xxxiv. 407 [He] found himself dissonant with the spirit of the colony. 1861 Maine Anc. Law iv. (1876) 84 An anomalous and dissonant jurisprudence. |
B. n. A dissonant element; a harsh sound of speech.
(In quot. 1579 the meaning is doubtful.)
| 1579 J. Jones Preserv. Bodie & Soule i. xxxi. 66 Haue y⊇ Alphabet letters in Iuorie..or some other deuise conuenient..to carry aboute with them, as first a, then b, after c, &c., then Consonants, after Dissonants, then Words, lastly Sentences. 1865 Emerson in Harper's Mag. Feb. (1884) 461/1 Guttural consonants or dissonants. |