Discention

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Open disagreement or conflict of opinion that divides people or groups against one another
2. A state of discord in which people or factions hold opposing views and fail to agree
3. Strife or friction arising from differences of opinion, often leading to a breakdown in harmony

Etymology: "Discention" is an obsolete spelling of "dissension", and the two words share a single chain of descent. The Latin noun "dissensio" came from "dissentire", meaning to disagree or to feel differently, built from "dis-" (apart) and "sentire" (to feel or think). Old French took the noun as "dissension", and Middle French produced spellings including "dissention" and "discention", the form you have here. English picked it up from there and used it in the Middle English period as "dissencioun". The spelling "discention" is therefore not a separate word but an older variant of the same term, and the forms show how French and English spelled the Latin root at different times. The sense has stayed steady throughout: a difference of opinion that can grow into open quarrel.