English Reference
noun

discord

n.
US /ˈdɪskɔɹd/ dis·cord UK spelling discorded, discording, discords

  1. 01 B2 Upper Intermediate

    a lack of agreement or harmony between people.

    lack of concord or harmony between persons, groups, or things; interpersonal or political strife.

    Simple

    The new law caused a lot of discord between the two political parties.

    In context

    The management's decision to cut benefits sowed seeds of discord among the workforce, leading to a series of strikes.

  2. 02 C1 Advanced Technical Music

    a harsh or unpleasant mix of sounds.

    a confused or harsh mingling of sounds; a lack of acoustic harmony.

    Simple

    The modern piece of music was full of strange discord and loud noises.

    In context

    The composer used intentional discord to evoke a sense of anxiety and urban decay throughout the first movement.

    dissonancecacophony
    consonanceharmony
  3. 03 B1 Intermediate Computing

    a popular app used for text, voice, and video chat, especially by gamers.

    a proprietary instant messaging and social platform organized into communities called servers.

    Simple

    I will send you the link to our Discord so you can join the chat.

    In context

    The development team uses Discord to coordinate their tasks and provide real-time support to their user base.


Etymology 1

Circa 1230, Middle English descorde, discorde; from Anglo-Norman, Old French descort (derivative of descorder), descorde (“disagreement”); from Latin discordia, from discors (“disagreeing, disagreement”), from dis- (“apart”) + cor, cordis (“heart”). Verb derives from Middle English discorden, from Anglo-Norman, Old French descorder, from Latin discordāre, from discord-, as above.

Etymology 2

From dis- + cord (“tie, bind”).

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry
Origin Latin discordāre
Level B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency Frequent
Updated