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 debate poses an obstacle to any easy policy wins for the Trump administration on IVF.—
Lucy Tu,
The Atlantic,
11 July 2025
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Regardless of partisan debate, Gould’s confirmation marks what many can officially call a comeback for the OCC’s crypto-forward regulatory approach, which stalled under the previous administration.—
Jason Brett,
Forbes.com,
11 July 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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But there are still some sour grapes about the big tactical dispute in February.—
Burgess Everett,
semafor.com,
14 July 2025
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Threads on the South Park subreddit and social media have lit up with foul-mouthed complaints from international fans, most of them directed at Paramount and David Ellison’s Skydance Media, whose $8 billion buyout of Paramount is at the heart of the South Park dispute.—
Scott Roxborough,
HollywoodReporter,
14 July 2025
Noun
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Social Security has become a lightening rod for controversy since Trump’s inauguration in January.—
Alicia Adamczyk,
Fortune,
7 July 2025
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The controversy in Spain echoes similar issues in Portugal, where Rabbi Daniel Litvak of Oporto was arrested in 2022 amid investigations into fraudulent citizenship applications linked notably to Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.—
Orge Castellano,
Sun Sentinel,
7 July 2025
Noun
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With no deadline spurring action and the clear potential for disagreement on valuation, this staring contest could go on for a while.—
John Hollinger,
New York Times,
7 July 2025
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Pay attention to body language in order to spot disagreement.—
Jack Fowler,
National Review,
4 July 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 19 Jul. 2025.
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