Cacophony is an infernal confusion of sounds

Cacophony is a haphazard combination of sounds that is devoid of harmony, which usually causes the listener to frown and immediately plug his ears.

Meaning of the word

The origin of the word is ancient Greek. The root - φωνή is translated as "sound" and participates in the creation of many tokens associated with the sound characteristics: megaphone, gramophone, tape recorder, telephone, phonogram, phoneme, phonoteque and so on. The root κακός in the Russian translation means "nasty".

The meaning of the word cacophony confirms the synonymic series in which it is found: dissonance, discord, disharmony. Any sounds that cut the ear are perceived by the human ear as a cacophony. This is the crazy chorus of the March cats, and the sounds of instruments tuned before the performance or concert, and the urban discord of the noises, and the dissonant lines of other poetic verses. In a word, the opposite of this lexeme in meaning is the term "euphonium", which means euphony.

Musical dissonance

Cacophony is the concept most associated with music. In modern avant-garde art, a disorderly heap of sounds is sometimes used specially, with a certain ideological and aesthetic purpose. Back in 1936, the "conceptualist" Shostakovich domestic critics angrily condemned for the intricate sound organization of his opera "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk", calling his work a confusion instead of music. The works of American pianist Henry Cowell, distinguished by his own peculiar style, contain musical polyphonic sounds, characterized by a dissonant sound. The same can be said about the composer John Cage, famous for the invention of the so-called "prepared piano". Before the concert, the musician prepared a tool, placing between his strings small objects - coins, paper, paperclips, pins. As a result, the sound acquired unusual colors and timbre. The technique of composing music from Cage was based on the principle of chance. Before perfection, the method of chance was brought by his followers - the German Stockhausen and the Frenchman Boulez.

Metal group

Fans of the heavy metal style will gladly tell you that "Cacophony" is also a famous American band, whose musical compositions represent a bizarre mixture of Japanese, Arabic and new European melodies. For three years of its existence (1986-1989), the band released two quality albums in the style of thrash metal and neoclassical metal.

In other areas

The noun "cacophony" is applicable to other spheres of human activity. In stylistics they speak of an ugly and unjustified combination of sounds in speech. Psychiatry holds this term in service when there are such nervous disorders in which the patient perceives audible sounds as chaotic noise. Metaphorically, the word "cacophony" denotes disagreement and the lack of agreement between people. Sometimes they are determined by the inconsistency and inconsistency of the thought process, feelings and desires of the individual. Then they talk about the cacophony of the mind. Cacophony in the visual arts and architecture can be called bizarre and piercing combinations of shapes, lines and colors, unusual for the perception of a man brought up on traditional culture samples.

Speak correctly

It is often possible to hear such a thing as "cacophony of sounds". It is incorrect because it contains a tautology: in the noun "cacophony", as we have seen, there is already the meaning of the word "sound", thus, the above expression means "cacophony of sounds". Let us use words and concepts correctly, so that in our thoughts and utterances there is never a cacophony.