dissension
(dɪˈsɛnʃən)
Forms: 4 dissensiun, 5 -sion; also 4–6 disc-, dys-, des-, 4–5 -ciun, -cioun, 4–6 -cion, 5–9 -tion.
[a. F. dissension (12th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), also discencion, etc., ad. L. dissensiōn-em disagreement, n. of action from dissentīre, ppl. stem dissens-; see dissent. Formerly, very frequently dissention (cf. dissent, contention), whence dissentious.]
1. Disagreement in opinion; esp. such disagreement as produces strife or contention; discord; an instance of this, a violent disagreement or quarrel arising from difference of opinion.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 22221 (Cott.) Bot if dissenciun bi-tide..þat es bot if discord and strijf, Ouer all þis werld be runnun rijf. Ibid. 22238 (Gött.) First sal be dissensiun, er ante-crist sal cum in land. 1375 Barbour Bruce i. 48 Bot enwy..Amang thaim maid discencioun. 1382 Wyclif Acts xv. 39 Forsoth dissencioun is maad, so that thei departiden atwyny. 1484 Caxton Fables of æsop iii. xiii, Of the sheep whiche had werre and descencion with the wolues. 1526 Tindale 1 Cor. iii. 3 There is amonge you envyinge, stryfe and dissencion. 1607 T. Walkington Opt. Glass x. (1664) 112 The procurer of a Civil Mutiny and Dissention. 1667 Milton P.L. xii. 352 But first among the Priests dissension springs. 1777 Robertson Hist. Amer. (1778) I. ii. 131 He fomented the spirit of dissention in the island. 1876 J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. II. i. ii. 31 There were dissensions..existing within the Church, as well as without. |
† b. Phr.: in, upon, at dissension. Obs.
| 1393 Gower Conf. Prol. I. 30 Vpon dissencion Thei felle, and in diuision. Ibid. I. 304 Ovide..Maketh..mencion How they felle at dissencion. 1421 Sir H. Luttrell in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. I. 85 The two Remes that..han ben in discention. 1600 J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa ii. 254 They are at..great dissention with the Arabians. 1654 tr. Scudery's Curia Pol. 7 Would they that I should..be at dissention with my own sonne? |
† 2. Med. Physical disturbance producing ailment. Obs.
| 1582 J. Hester Secr. Phiorav. i. lx. 70 Difficultie of Urine maie also be caused of..dissention of the head. 1656 Ridgley Pract. Physick 232 It differs from obstruction because here is no great dissention, it is without pain or Feaver. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Worms, Worms cause several accidents..as a dissention, wringings with a rumbling in the belly. |
† 3. Disagreement in matters of religious belief and observance; = dissent n. 3. Obs.
| 1708 Swift Sent. Ch. Eng. Man Wks. ed. 1755 II. i. 59 What assurances can they [the clergy] have, that any compliances they shall make, will remove the evil of dissention? 1738 Warburton Div. Legat. ii. vi. 238 In the Pagan World a tolerated Religion did not imply Dissention from the established, according to our modern ideas of Toleration. 1807 R. A. Ingram (title), Causes of the Increase of Methodism and Dissention. |
4. attrib.
| 1611 Cotgr., Sursemeur de noises, a..dissention-sower. |