consonance

[kon-suh-nuh ns] /ˈkɒn sə nəns/

noun

accord or agreement.

correspondence of sounds; harmony of sounds.

Music. a simultaneous combination of tones conventionally accepted as being in a state of repose.

Compare dissonance (def 2).

Prosody.

the correspondence of consonants, especially those at the end of a word, in a passage of prose or verse.
Compare alliteration (def 1).
the use of the repetition of consonants or consonant patterns as a rhyming device.

Physics. the property of two sounds the frequencies of which have a ratio equal to a small whole number.

Also, consonancy.

Origin

1350-1400; Middle English (< Anglo-French) < Latin consonantia concord. See consonant, -ance

Related forms

nonconsonance, noun

Synonyms

1. concord, harmony, correspondence.

Antonyms

1. dissonance.

Examples from the web for consonance

These suddenly smudged images of consonance and peace.
Surrounding developments must be well maintained and in consonance with a professional image.
The surrounding development must be well maintained and in consonance with a professional image.
Select words and phrases that contain poetic effects such as alliteration and consonance.

British Dictionary definitions for consonance

consonance

/ˈkɒnsənəns/

noun (pl) -nances, -nancies

agreement, harmony, or accord

(prosody) similarity between consonants, but not between vowels, as between the s and t sounds in sweet silent thought Compare assonance (sense 1)

(music)

an aesthetically pleasing sensation or perception associated with the interval of the octave, the perfect fourth and fifth, the major and minor third and sixth, and chords based on these intervals Compare dissonance (sense 3)
an interval or chord producing this sensation

Word Origin and History for consonance

early 15c., "agreement among persons," from Old French consonance (12c.) "consonance, rhyme," from Latin consonantia "harmony, agreement," from consonantem (nominative consonans) (see consonant). Meaning "correspondence of sounds" is from 1580s.