coincide
Americanverb (used without object)
-
coincides,
present (3rd person singular)
-
coincided,
past participle, past
-
coinciding
present participle
-
to occupy the same place in space, the same point or period in time, or the same relative position.
The centers of concentric circles coincide. Our vacations coincided this year.
-
to correspond exactly, as in nature, character, etc..
His vocation coincides with his avocation.
-
to agree or concur, as in thought or opinion.
Their opinions always coincide.
- Antonyms:
- contradict, differ
verb
-
to occur or exist simultaneously
-
to be identical in nature, character, etc
-
to agree
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
coincidesimple
-
coincidessimple
-
have coincidedperfect
-
has coincidedperfect
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am coincidingprogressive
-
are coincidingprogressive
-
is coincidingprogressive
-
have been coincidingperfect progressive
-
has been coincidingperfect progressive
Past
-
coincidedsimple
-
had coincidedperfect
-
was coincidingprogressive
-
were coincidingprogressive
-
had been coincidingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of coincide
First recorded in 1635–45; from Medieval Latin coincidere, from Latin co- co- + incidere “to fall upon, befall” ( see incident)
Explanation
When things happen at the same time, they are said to coincide. Often, this is because they're intentionally coordinated — "the bake sale coincided with Parent Day" — but not always. Coincide can also mean happen together in other ways. "My mother's views on appropriate teen fashion do not always coincide with mine" is a tactful way to say she hates your clothes. You could also describe two roads coming together as coinciding — though it's more poetic to talk about when they diverge.
Vocabulary lists containing coincide
Eclipse Vocabulary
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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
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Latin Love, Vol II: cadere
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Should they coincide with winter storms, coastal erosion, flooding and damage are likely, Flick said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
Fed tightening cycles are negative for stocks when they start but usually coincide with robust returns over a longer time frame.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
Harry's trip was also to coincide with the delivery of a judgement, expected Tuesday, in a case against Associated Newspapers, owner of the Daily Mail, over alleged unlawful information gathering.
From Barron's ● Jul. 6, 2026
The prosecution suggested that the disorder which broke out had been deliberately orchestrated by dissident republicans to coincide with the presence of MTV.
From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026
Normally, she would have been involved in these preparations, but they happened to coincide with her two-day writing bout and the beginnings of the front-of-house construction.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
Tying a bow on all this is the news that its BritBox debut on Tuesday, Sept. 15, coincides with Christie’s birthday and the traditional day-after-Emmys launch of the fall season.
From Salon ● Sep. 4, 2026
Bratenahl’s popularity coincides with a broader regional boom.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
“WTI is now testing the important $86.50-$88.50 region. This area has acted as resistance previously and also coincides with a long-term bearish trend line,” he told MarketWatch in emailed commentary on Tuesday.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026
Instead, the most prolific period of glacial earthquakes at Thwaites, between 2018 and 2020, coincides with a period of accelerated flow of the glacier’s ice tongue towards the sea.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 30, 2026
The transition roughly coincides with the transition between dry and wet seasons—the time when the Milky Way releases life-giving water to Pacha Mama, Mother Earth—and divides the heavens into four quar- ters.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
The so-called Big Freeze of winter 2009-10 was, at the time, the coldest in three decades - and this coincided with an El Niño.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
The 1982-83 winter season, which coincided with a very strong El Niño, was historically destructive for California’s coast, with storms wrecking the Santa Monica and Seal Beach piers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
The negative response to the Alibaba fundraising coincided with setbacks for other luminaries in the AI buildout.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 24, 2026
This era of scrolling alone has, as Putnam halfway predicted, coincided with a rise in asocial extremism.
From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2026
The launch of the carbon-14 project coincided with another round of anxious expectation about a Nobel Prize for Ernest Lawrence.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
The coast is dangerous this week because high tides — which peak in the evening — are coinciding with a southerly swell, Black said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026
The school redesigned its uniform for 2026-27, coinciding with new government rules limiting secondary schools to three branded items, plus a branded tie.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
The rise in apartment demand is coinciding with a decline in the number of units available to rent.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
Over the years, the S&P 500 and the cross-currency basis swap have moved in lockstep on multiple occasions, with periods of strong hedging demand coinciding with falling U.S. equity prices as liquidity shifted.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026
I hold up my drawing, showing the intricate plan I spent most of the morning working on, every detail perfectly accounted for and coinciding with a different person and a task.
From "Five Feet Apart" by Rachael Lippincott
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
