as in debate
variance of opinion on a matter
a democracy relies on dissensus as much as on consensus
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Recent Examples of dissensus
These dramas of politics — each involving the high court’s first black justice — arrive at a singularly contentious political moment in an atmosphere of angry, sometimes violent dissensus.
—
Manohla Dargis and A.o. Scott, New York Times, 7 Sep. 2017
Manohla Dargis and A.o. Scott, New York Times, 7 Sep. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dissensus
Noun
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This is thematically tied to the internal debate at Arsenal over the No 9 position.—
James McNicholas,
New York Times,
6 June 2025
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Now, those choices are reshaping national debates over who holds power on campus and what higher education should protect.—
Dalia Faheid,
CNN Money,
5 June 2025
Noun
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Jake is a single father who has brought Kristen up in the severe Calvinist tradition, marked by Bible disputations of Talmudic intricacy and by a radical detachment from secular and popular culture.—
Richard Brody,
The New Yorker,
8 Sep. 2023
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Seven decades later, this culture of disputation emerged as a central theme in Timothy Garton Ash’s The Magic Lantern, his eyewitness report on the Eastern European revolutions of 1989.—
Susie Linfield,
The New York Review of Books,
11 May 2022
Noun
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Phan was convicted of shooting up a high school graduation party after a dispute, killing an 18-year-old and a 15-year-old.—
Greg Wehner , Bill Melugin,
FOXNews.com,
9 June 2025
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Officials from the United States and China met in London to talk about a range of different disputes that are separating them.—
Stan Choe,
Los Angeles Times,
9 June 2025
Noun
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At the heart of the controversy over Iran’s nuclear program is its enrichment of uranium – a process used to produce fuel for power plants that, at higher levels, can also be used to make a nuclear bomb.—
Mostafa Salem,
CNN Money,
13 June 2025
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Read Next Before payment controversy, Chief Johnny Jennings made progressive strides at CMPD June 6, 2025 11:23 AM This story was originally published June 13, 2025 at 5:00 AM.—
Maia Nehme,
Charlotte Observer,
13 June 2025
Noun
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Ordinary disagreements are now seen as grounds to capriciously immiserate and ruin lives, and failing that, to intimidate state leaders into capitulation.—
David Faris,
MSNBC Newsweek,
12 June 2025
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Amid the insults and threats hurled across the political landscape, the risks of violence stemming from political and legal disagreements represent a governing challenge equal to the violence of the 1960s.—
Michael Mcauliffe,
Sun Sentinel,
10 June 2025
Noun
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Barby Rodriguez, the Chief of Staff at the Clerk of Courts and Comptroller, said that as of this morning, the sheriff’s office has filed 1,364 contestations in the statewide E-Filing portal.—
Clara-Sophia Daly,
Miami Herald,
11 Mar. 2025
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There may be more give-and-take within the Beijing-Moscow-Washington triangle, more concessions on small points, and more openness to negotiation and to confidence-building measures in zones of war and contestation.—
Michael Kimmage,
Foreign Affairs,
25 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Dissensus.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dissensus. Accessed 17 Jun. 2025.
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