Definition
Discord refers to a lack of agreement or harmony between people, things or ideas. It can refer to disagreement, conflict or hostility that exists between individuals or groups.
Pronunciation
US English
UK English
See Synonyms, Antonyms and Usage
Excerpts from News Articles
As was true in the nineteen-nineties, today’s fights about math are not entirely about what kids actually learn in their classrooms, or how well those lessons prepare the US for competition against a geopolitical enemy. I’d argue that the spectre haunting today’s discord over math education is a growing suspicion of the equity-based movement of educators who, as in the early twentieth century, largely come from graduate education programs like the ones at Stanford and Columbia’s Teachers College.
Since the invasion, pro-Kremlin outlets and social media accounts have pushed narratives to drum up support for Russia, sow distrust in the Ukrainian government and encourage discord between its allies, the DFRLab's latest report shows. Russian propaganda campaigns have been ongoing in Ukraine, Russia as well as Europe, Latin America and Africa.
The discord between Disney and DeSantis began last year when the company opposed the state’s “parental rights in education bill,” which has been called the “don’t say gay” bill by its critics. DeSantis took action after company executives sharply criticized the bill and said they would work to repeal it.
But it wasn’t just Chinese commentators that seized on the discord projected by the mismatched communications of the trip.
Mikhailo Podolyak, a senior advisor to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Twitter that he believed Russia was responsible. He called it an attempt to "divert attention, cast doubts and mutual suspicions, sow discord ."
Caught in the middle of this constitutional tug of war are young people, whose minds are preoccupied with pressing social issues: a largely segregated education and housing system, poor health care and high levels of poverty. CNN spoke with three “peace babies” living in Belfast, who dream of living in a future free from sectarianism, and say that political discord is stifling their futures.
The leader walked an instruction line to teach four soldiers how to change their rifle magazines during a firefight, explaining that it won’t be so easy to just stand there. You need to take cover, he explained. Often you’ll need to do it a prone position. The unloaded rifles clicked in discord as the trainees ran through the drills.
Altogether, the Biden administration had invited 120 world leaders to the summit. However, a day ahead of the summit, Pakistan, an ‘all-weather ally’ of China and a primary US “authoritarian” adversary, struck a discordant note and pulled out.
Representatives of the world’s 20 largest economies are meeting in India amid discord over Ukraine and US-China tensions
“The aim of secret data ‘leaks’ is obvious: divert attention, cast doubts & mutual suspicions, sow discord ,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Saturday on Twitter.
He said such operations - meant to sow confusion, if not discord , among Russia's adversaries - were a "classic" practice of Russian spy services to leak authentic documents in which they have inserted false information.
And I could really do it by then, because the person I was writing about at the beginning of the book wasn’t I anymore, he was a previous self, the person oblivious of the future. And I’m a character too—the I writing—to whom a coming future hasn’t happened. To see myself this way, the way rewriting the book helped me to see myself—is to understand the self as a series, a chorus. A discord of vowels all saying I.
Perhaps less than we suppose. Analysts point out that leaks like this can be a double-edged sword. While Russia will no doubt try to use it to sow discord , the sheer level to which the US has penetrated Russian decision-making circles underlines – once again – the failures in Russian military planning and intelligence, in this case its effectiveness in counter-intelligence.
For the moderate group of Voice supporters these facts are not front of mind. They simply want something to be done, and they want reconciliation. They expect a successful Yes vote to put an end to the discord and agitation around indigenous claims, whereas it will in fact give these a permanent constitutional base, supported by the Australian taxpayer.
He solved it by blocking the holes in his loft – the advice is to do this mid-morning or mid-afternoon, when they are likely to be out foraging. One person who wishes to remain anonymous ousted a squirrel family by putting a speaker in the attic and playing loud, discordant music.
Russia's defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment. Moscow has said it does not know if the documents are real and they may be an attempt to sow discord .
Usually, there would be some face-saving explanation for her absence, but as none has been offered, speculation will begin immediately. No doubt the ever-active ‘friends’ of Harry and Meghan will soon start spreading discord more or less immediately; expect quotes that suggest that the Duchess would feel unwelcome, or unsafe, or out of place, or any number of potential reasons for her absence. Given that she was able to attend the Queen’s funeral last September in a comparatively low-profile fashion, it seems strange that the same thing may not happen again.
In its Twitter statement, the RSF called on the Sudanese people and media to avoid misinformation aimed at spreading discord and undermining the security and stability of the country.
The problem is ascertaining the validity of the leak. Speculation abounds whether it is a genuine leak, purposeful U.S. disinformation, or even pro-Russian disinformation designed to sew discord amongst NATO allies. If it is a genuine leak, then the origin of the leak is suggested to be the work of outside hacking, a spy, or a disgruntled member within the U.S. administration who disagrees with the war in Ukraine, which much of the leak covers.
Qatar and Bahrain both say they want to ‘enhance the Gulf unity and integration’ after years of discord .
Healey installed a new MBTA general manager on Monday and took on full responsibility for fixing the failing transit system in doing so. She found herself at odds with top House lawmakers over spending and tax-relief plans, setting up new dynamics — and discord — between Democrats on Beacon Hill that could jeopardize some of her biggest campaign promises.
I just don’t get very much information from my eyes; left up to me, the furniture would all be at the wrong angle (jaunty, not straight-on to the wall), or in the wrong place (side-tables nowhere near anything useful). I can survey the scene of my living room and know that there’s something discordant about it, but tracing that to the random pair of dirty socks on the mantelpiece, or the books stacked on their side, would take me about a year. The living room is by far the tidiest in the house, because it has no TV in it, which wards off the kids like hazmat tape; it also doesn’t reflect the hoarder I naturally am, because literally every time I turn my back, Mr Z throws something away.
But exposing it to the world is another matter. It embarrasses the targeted governments. It also shakes the confidence of frontline combatants such as Ukraine who depend on the U.S. for much of their weaponry. It has the potential to sow discord among the U.S.' allies in the NATO alliance and thereby aid the Russian invaders.
That is until the lights are dimmed, and we all stop what we’re doing to sing Happy Birthday to her in excited, if discordant , unison. I approach her with the cake my sister Maeve has made, together with a kitchen knife and a flaming sparkler in the shape of a big number 1. Her initial reaction is not dissimilar to the jerk of horror you might get if you approached a baby with, well, a kitchen knife and a flaming object, I guess. But then she spots the cake beneath, and everything changes.
And he got his wish that McCarthy not bring up any behind-the-scenes drama before the rest of their colleagues. Talk of McCarthy-Arrington discord did not come up at the private conference meeting, according to six lawmakers in the room.
Until recently Teplinsky was thought to have fallen out of favor with the Russian defense ministry and likely dismissed from his role, in a sign of discord amid Moscow’s stuttering campaign in Ukraine.
"Any actions of the United States, Britain and Canada... aimed at inciting discord and enmity in our society will be dealt with in the most decisive way and the diplomats involved in this subversive work will be expelled from Russia," she said.
As their influence grew, so did their suspicion of one another. When attempts at power sharing failed, it was only a matter of time before their distrust and discord escalated into an open, bloody confrontation.
“Russia’s foreign intelligence service allegedly weaponized our First Amendment rights — freedoms Russia denies its own citizens — to divide Americans and interfere in elections in the United States,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen said in a written statement. The Justice Department, he said, “will not hesitate to expose and prosecute those who sow discord and corrupt U.S. elections in service of hostile foreign interests, regardless of whether the culprits are U.S. citizens or foreign individuals abroad.”
The indictment follows earlier charges last year [PDF] against Moscow resident Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov, two unnamed Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) agents, and four unnamed Americans for their roles in recruiting US political groups to sow discord and division among voters, and push, among other fringe ideologies, California's secession from the US.
Wang also said the situation in the East China Sea and the South China Sea is stable, and relevant countries should stop sowing discord and creating confrontation among regional countries.
The US has been opposing the establishment of a verification mechanism for the Biological Weapons Convention and has refused to allow verification of its biological facilities for the past 20 years. The US is the only country that still has chemical weapons and has delayed their destruction twice. In the relentless pursuit of partisan gain, the United States is engaged in a campaign to sow confusion and discord , casting doubts upon the crucial scientific investigation into the origins of the novel coronavirus.
Such a reaction explains why US diplomacy is inherently antithetical to peace. The US has been involved in numerous conflicts in the Middle East for some three decades, arguably more. With all of this history between Washington and its ‘partners’ in the region, it has extraordinarily little to show for it. The truth is that the US has stoked, proliferated and literally profited from sowing discord and conflict.
Nonetheless, a handful of European nations including Poland and Hungary have blocked the entry of farm products from Ukraine — one of the world’s biggest grain exporters — arguing that the flood of cheap imports is ruining local farmers. Now, to quell the rising discord , the European Union is considering a temporary ban on grain imports to five nations.
Juan Carlos, who for decades was a symbol of harmony between Spaniards, has sown discord with his conduct while he reigned. As a firewall, the King has established a series of measures he would have to comply with.
