Cacophony

//kəˈkɑfəni// noun

noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A mix of discordant sounds; dissonance. countable, uncountable

    "1921-1922, H. P. Lovecraft, Herbert West: Reanimator, Not more unutterable could have been the chaos of hellish sound if the pit itself had opened to release the agony of the damned, for in one inconceivable cacophony was centered all the supernal terror and unnatural despair of animate nature."

  2. 2
    loud confusing disagreeable sounds wordnet
  3. 3
    a loud harsh or strident noise wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
agitationatonalismatonalitybabelbad tastebarbarism

Example

More examples

"A cacophony is a mix of loud sounds."

Etymology

From French cacophonie, from Ancient Greek κακοφωνία (kakophōnía), from κακός (kakós, “bad”) + φωνή (phōnḗ, “sound”), equivalent to caco- + -phony.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.