✅ Dissonance refers to a harsh combination of sounds that don’t harmonize (I hated the dissonance of hearing so many instruments all together).

✅ Discord refers to a confused mishmash of sounds (The discord in the cafe was overwhelming).

✅ Dissonance and discord both refer to harsh and inharmonious sounds and combinations of sounds, but discord can also refer to disagreement, and dissonance can refer to incongruity between ideas.

✅ Both of these other meanings reflect the relationships between noises and sounds that discord and dissonance refer to (discord between friends; narrative dissonance).

✅ Shine means to be particularly good at something or stand out when compared to your peers (He shined from the moment he stepped on stage).

✅ Excel means to do extremely well at something or be superior in comparison with others (She excelled in mathematics).

✅ While shine and excel both mean to do something well in comparison to others, excel is a slightly more formal or official-sounding term than shine.

✅ Mouthy describes someone who talks a lot, especially in a pretentious or self-important way (The leader was mouthy and a bit stuck-up).

✅ Garrulous describes someone who rambles a lot about trivial or unimportant things (The garrulous nurse had a soothing presence).

✅ Mouthy and garrulous both describe someone who talks a lot, but otherwise they have opposite meanings. Mouthy suggests a pretentious style of talking or someone who is rude or disrespectful, whereas garrulous suggests a more lighthearted or even scatterbrained style of talking.