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Pronunciation

How to pronounce “dissonance”

“dissonance” is pronounced /ˈdɪsənəns/ (DI-suh-nuhns) in American English and /dɪsənəns/ in British English — 3 syllables, stressed on “dɪ”.
The sound

Say “dissonance” in 3 beats

Say it like this

dissonance

/ˈdɪsənəns/

The voice you hear here is American; the British form is /dɪsənəns/ (see the table below), and a British voice is available in the app's settings.

3 beats
  1. dɪdɪstress
  2. səsə
  3. nənsnəns
IPA (American)
/ˈdɪsənəns/
IPA (British)
/dɪsənəns/
Respelling
DI-suh-nuhns
Syllables
3 — DꞮ-sə-nəns
Stress
Stress the first syllable: DꞮ-sə-nəns. “dɪ” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.
Part of speech
noun
Difficulty
Pro — the sounds are ordinary, the rhythm is where it slips
Accents

American and British are not the same here

American

/ˈdɪsənəns/

British

/dɪsənəns/

No audio here: sayit’s voice is American, so a British button would play the American word. Read the transcription instead.

Meaning

What “dissonance” means

  1. noun

    a conflict of people's opinions or actions or characters

  2. noun

    the auditory experience of sound that lacks musical quality; sound that is a disagreeable auditory experience

    “modern music is just noise to me”

  3. noun

    disagreeable sounds

Say it in a sentence

“There was a real dissonance between his words and his face.”
Sound by sound

The sounds inside this word

5 sounds, in the order you say them
ddɪshort iss×2əschwa×2nn×2

Each sound has its own page: where the tongue goes, what it is usually confused with, and words to drill it on.

Questions

“dissonance”, answered

How do you pronounce “dissonance”?

“dissonance” is pronounced /ˈdɪsənəns/ (DI-suh-nuhns) in American English and /dɪsənəns/ in British English — 3 syllables, stressed on “dɪ”. Build it as DꞮ-sə-nəns, then run the first syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.

How many syllables does “dissonance” have?

3: dɪ · sə · nəns. The beat lands on the first, “dɪ”.

Is “dissonance” said differently in British English?

Yes. American English says /ˈdɪsənəns/ (DI-suh-nuhns); British English says /dɪsənəns/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.

What does “dissonance” mean?

As a noun: a conflict of people's opinions or actions or characters For example: “There was a real dissonance between his words and his face.” It carries 2 other senses as well — all of them said the same way.

Where is the stress in “dissonance”?

Stress the first syllable: DꞮ-sə-nəns. “dɪ” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.

Practise this word

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