adj. 1. Harsh and inharmonious in sound; discordant. 2. Being at variance; disagreeing. 3. Music Constituting or producing a dissonance. [Middle English dissonaunt, from Old French dissonant, from Latin dissonāns, dissonant-, present participle of dissonāre, to be dissonant : dis-, apart; see DIS- + sonāre, to sound; see swen- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] disso·nant·ly adv. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.