/kon"seuh neuhns/ , n.
1. accord or agreement.
2. correspondence of sounds; harmony of sounds.
3. Music. a simultaneous combination of tones conventionally accepted as being in a state of repose. Cf. dissonance (def. 2). See illus. under resolution .
4. Pros.
a. the correspondence of consonants, esp. those at the end of a word, in a passage of prose or verse. Cf. alliteration (def. 1).
b. the use of the repetition of consonants or consonant patterns as a rhyming device.
5. Physics. the property of two sounds the frequencies of which have a ratio equal to a small whole number.
Also, consonancy .
[ 1350-1400; ME ( consonantia concord. See CONSONANT, -ANCE ]
Syn. 1. concord, harmony, correspondence.
Ant. 1. dissonance.