dissentient means dissenting; of a different opinion. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 77 out of 100.
Why “dissentient” is a great word
DISSENTIENT — [Adjective] Holding or expressing a different opinion. From the Latin dissentiēns, present participle of dissentīre ("to differ in sentiment, disagree"), from dis- ("apart") + sentīre ("to feel, think"). First attested in English in the early 17th century. Unlike "dissident," which implies organized, political opposition to authority, or "nonconformist," which suggests a broad principled refusal of prevailing norms, "dissentient" is the quiet, intellectual act of withholding assent within a shared structure. It is the single hand not raised in a unanimous vote, the marginal note in the committee's report, and the private reservation held while the public celebration begins—a solitary, interior pressure that is the essential friction preventing the machinery of consensus from seizing altogether.
Etymology
From the Latin dissentiēns (“dissenting”).
adj
- Dissenting; of a different opinion.“Moody and Sankey had sung their way into every dissentient chapel, and Boshy appreciated their words thoroughly, and sang them to a wrong tune incessantly.”
noun
- A dissenter.“The vote was taken at once, and it was agreed by an overwhelming majority that rats were comrades. There were only four dissentients, the three dogs and the cat, who was afterwards discovered to have voted on both sides.”