dissension

What it means

1. countableuncountableAn act of expressing dissent, especially spoken.
2. countableuncountableStrong disagreement; a contention or quarrel; discord.

   […]wherby at the last shuld have sourded discention amonge the people, they beinge seperately enclined towarde theyr naturall souerayne lorde[…]

   1531, Thomas Elyot, “The Best Governance”, in Ernest Rhys, editor, The Boke Named the Governour […] (Everyman’s Library), London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Co; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co, published [1907], →OCLC, 1st book, page 11

   2 more examples

   The natural scenery of America has often been contrasted, in its general features as well as in detail, with the landscape of the Old World—more especially of Europe—and not deeper has been the enthusiasm, than wide the dissension, of the supporters of each region.

   1843, E. A. Poe, Morning on the Wissahiccon

   In Biblical times the resort to chance was an agreed-upon way of making many decisions because it ended dissension among opposing, often powerful, parties.

   1998, Deborah J. Bennett, Randomness, Harvard University Press, page 34f

In a sentence

[…]wherby at the last shuld have sourded discention amonge the people, they beinge seperately enclined towarde theyr naturall souerayne lorde[…]

1531, Thomas Elyot, “The Best Governance”, in Ernest Rhys, editor, The Boke Named the Governour […] (Everyman’s Library), London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Co; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co, published [1907], →OCLC, 1st book, page 11

Where it comes from

1. Latindissensio
2. Old Frenchdissension
3. Middle Frenchdissention
4. Middle Englishdissencioun
5. Englishdissension

Inherited from Middle English dissencioun, from Middle French dissention, discention, from Old French dissension, from Latin dissensio.