dissonance
Harsh sonic conflict
Dissonance is a lack of harmony or agreement.
In music, dissonance is the harsh, unstable sound of notes that clash rather than blend: The composer used dissonance to create tension before the resolution.
More broadly, dissonance describes any jarring inconsistency—between ideas, actions, or expectations: There was dissonance between his words and his behavior.
Cognitive dissonance is the mental discomfort of holding contradictory beliefs.
Harsh, clashing sounds
- discordLack of agreement
- discordanceConflicting elements together
- jarringDisturbingly incongruous
- clashViolent disagreement or collision
harshness · grating · strident · disharmony · off-key · sour · noise · clamor
Resistance between touching surfaces
- clashViolent disagreement or collision
- disagreementAbsence of shared opinion
- oppositionActive resistance or dissent
- tensionStretched or strained state
antagonism · discord · strife · contention · incompatibility · dispute · rift · division
Violent disagreement or collision
- mismatchIncompatible combination
- incongruityLack of harmony
- jarringDisturbingly incongruous
- discordLack of agreement
imbalance · inconsistency · disproportion · asymmetry · incoherence · juxtaposition · contrast · disparity
Absence of key signature
- twelve-toneSerialism using all pitches
- serialismFixed-sequence composition technique
- tritoneSix-semitone musical interval
- chromaticismUse of non-scale tones
cluster · polytonality · microtones · avant-garde · resolution · harmony · interval
Lack of agreement
- contradictionOpposing claims, incompatible together
- inconsistencyLack of steady pattern
- conflictOpposition between parties
- tensionStretched or strained state
unease · discomfort · rationalization · belief · attitude · psychology · justification · hypocrisy
cacophony
Harsh, clashing sounds
- discordLack of agreement
- discordanceConflicting elements together
- jarringDisturbingly incongruous
clash · harshness · grating · strident · disharmony · off-key · sour · noise · clamor · din
friction
Resistance between touching surfaces
- clashViolent disagreement or collision
- disagreementAbsence of shared opinion
- oppositionActive resistance or dissent
tension · antagonism · discord · strife · contention · incompatibility · dispute · rift · division · estrangement
clash
Violent disagreement or collision
- mismatchIncompatible combination
- incongruityLack of harmony
- jarringDisturbingly incongruous
discord · imbalance · inconsistency · disproportion · asymmetry · incoherence · juxtaposition · contrast · disparity · incompatibility
atonality
Absence of key signature
- twelve-toneSerialism using all pitches
- serialismFixed-sequence composition technique
- tritoneSix-semitone musical interval
chromaticism · cluster · polytonality · microtones · avant-garde · resolution · harmony · interval
incongruence
Lack of agreement
- contradictionOpposing claims, incompatible together
- inconsistencyLack of steady pattern
- conflictOpposition between parties
tension · unease · discomfort · rationalization · belief · attitude · psychology · justification · hypocrisy · denial
- Free Jazzfree jazz, freeform, atonality, overblowing, cacophony
- musicmusic, song, songs, singing, singer
- soundechoes, acoustics, vibrations, audio, volume
- cognitionthinking, reasoning, thought, cognition, remembering
- harsh soundsscreech, shriek, squawk, squeal, grate
- inconsistenciesinconsistency, discrepancy, contradiction, mismatch, disparity
dissonanceconsonance
Harmonious sound combination
harmony · euphony · harmoniousness · melodiousness · tunefulness
dissonanceharmony
Agreement or musical blend
accord · consonance · agreement · concord · unity
dissonanceconsonance
Harmonious sound combination
consistency · coherence · congruence · harmony · alignment
- cognitive dissonanceDiscomfort from contradictory beliefs
- moral dissonanceTension between competing values