coincidence

American  

[koh-in-si-duhns] / koʊˈɪn sɪ dəns /

noun

1. a striking occurrence of two or more events at one time apparently by mere chance.

   Our meeting in Venice was pure coincidence.

   Synonyms:

   fate , luck , accident

2. the condition or fact of coinciding.

3. an instance of this.

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coincidence British  

/ kəʊˈɪnsɪdəns /

noun

1. a chance occurrence of events remarkable either for being simultaneous or for apparently being connected

2. the fact, condition, or state of coinciding

3. (modifier) electronics of or relating to a circuit that produces an output pulse only when both its input terminals receive pulses within a specified interval Compare anticoincidence

   coincidence gate

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Other Word Forms

• noncoincidence noun
• precoincidence noun
• supercoincidence noun

Etymology

Origin of coincidence

First recorded in 1595–1605; coincid(ent) + -ence

Example Sentences

It pounced upon the coincidence that James Joyce, the Dada poet and essayist Tristan Tzara and Vladimir Lenin were all living in Zurich in 1917.

From The Wall Street Journal

But thanks to a quirk of coincidence, she ended up having a front-row seat to history.

From Los Angeles Times

Adding to the coincidence, the Colburn School had programmed Sunday in its smaller Thayer Hall, Brahms’ First String Quintet as part of one of its chamber music programs.

From Los Angeles Times

But for the creators of "Zootopia," these parallels with current events are simply a coincidence of timing for a story intended to be timeless and which took several years to develop.

From Barron's

They note that it’s more than just a coincidence that many major U.S. bear markets occur after a bull market has lasted about one generation.

From MarketWatch

Related Words

• accident
• fate
• fluke
• happening