dissension

\di.sɑ̃.sjɔ̃\

/\di.sɑ̃.sjɔ̃\/ noun

The verdict

“dissension” is uncommon French (frequency #65,083 among 5,307 “D” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#65,083
frequency rank, French
5,307
“D” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Dissentiment violent, mais passager, d’opinions, de sentiments, d’intérêts entre deux ou plusieurs personnes.

Corpus desk

Index FR-dissension · dissension · French

dissension · rank #65,083 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #65,083
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,307
  • PHOTO-FINISH disquaires

Nearest frequency peer: disquaires (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rangs de longue queue près de « dissension »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « dissension » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for dissension
PropertyValue
Headworddissension
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\di.sɑ̃.sjɔ̃\
Letters10
Frequency rank#65,083
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « dissension » en français

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.dissensiontombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « disquaires » (#65,082), « disjoncteurs » (#65,081), « dithyrambique » (#65,085). Parmi 5,307 lemmes en « D », « dissension » est au #65,083. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

dissension is uncommon French at frequency #65,083 among 5,307 “D” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \di.sɑ̃.sjɔ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Dissentiment violent, mais passager, d’opinions, de sentiments, d’intérêts entre deux ou plusieurs personnes.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for dissension, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is dissension, spelled D-I-S-S-E-N-S-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Dissentiment violent, mais passager, d’opinions, de sentiments, d’intérêts entre deux ou plusieurs personnes.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how dissension appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Sorcière ou non, il vaut mieux que cette misérable fille meure que de voir Bois-Guilbert perdu pour l’ordre des templiers, ou l’ordre divisé par des dissensions intestines.
  2. Ce fut pendant son généralat que le jansénisme commença à prendre racine dans cette congrégation, et à y occasionner quelques dissensions intérieures.

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "dissension"?
"dissension" is spelled D-I-S-S-E-N-S-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \di.sɑ̃.sjɔ̃\.
What does "dissension" mean?
As a noun, "dissension" means: Dissentiment violent, mais passager, d’opinions, de sentiments, d’intérêts entre deux ou plusieurs personnes.
How do you pronounce "dissension"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "dissension" is \di.sɑ̃.sjɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "dissension" come from?
"dissension" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "dissension", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list