dissonant chord
- noun
- /ˈdɪsənənt kɔrd/
- Specialized
:
acorde disonante
- "The lyre shrieked a teeth-grinding dissonant chord.
Examples
-
During the climactic scene of the film, a dissonant chord filled the air, heightening the tension in the moment.
-
( dissonant chord plays )
-
When I heard his car start, I sat at the piano and vented my feelings in a series of crashing, dissonant chords.
Fiction book (1990) -
The musician struck a dissonant chord, creating an unsettling atmosphere that captivated the audience.
-
As the orchestra played, the dissonant chords added a layer of complexity and emotion to the beautiful melody.
Synonyms
2
7.7
A harsh or unpleasant combination of sounds often in music
2
8.3
A harsh mix of sounds that is unpleasant to hear
A harsh, unpleasant mix of sounds that do not match
Antonyms
How Dissonant
- Specialized
96
3.2
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'dissonant' (harsh or unstable sounding) modifies 'chord' (a group of notes played together), so the phrase literally denotes a chord that sounds tense or lacking harmony. This straightforward adjective+noun combination is cross‑linguistically common in music vocabulary, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can reliably infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
The phrase dissonant chord comes from music: dissonant means clashing or not fitting and chord means several notes played together, so the sound feels tense or uneasy. That's why dissonant chord means 'a group of musical notes played together that create a sense of tension or lack of harmony'.