confluence

American  

[kon-floo-uhns] / ˈkɒn flu əns /

Also conflux

noun

• confluences
  plural

1. a flowing together of two or more streams, rivers, or the like.

   the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.

2. their place of junction.

   St. Louis is at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.

3. a body of water formed by the flowing together of two or more streams, rivers, or the like.

4. a coming together of people or things; concourse.

   Synonyms:

   meeting, union

5. a crowd or throng; assemblage.

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confluence British  

/ ˈkɒnflʊəns, ˈkɒnflʌks /

noun

1. a merging or flowing together, esp of rivers

2. a gathering together, esp of people

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confluence Scientific  

/ kŏn′flo̅o̅-əns /

1. A flowing together of two or more streams or two or more glaciers.

2. The point of juncture of such streams or glaciers.

3. The combined stream or glacier formed by this juncture.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• confluences
  plural

Etymology

Origin of confluence

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Middle French, from Late Latin confluentia, from Latin confluent-, stem of confluēns “flowing together” ( see confluent) + -ia -ia

Explanation

Confluence means a flowing together. In a literal sense, it's about rivers. But it's more often used to talk about the coming together of factors or ideas, or of cultures in a diverse city. Con- means "with," and -fluence sounds like "flow." When things come together like rivers do, flowing from entirely different places, you call that a confluence. If the senior class needs to raise money for a class trip, and the drama club is looking for someone to do concessions during intermission at the school play, that's a confluence of factors.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

confluence confluences

The splintering of mass media, the confluence of a cultural icon whose priorities are so admirable — the zeitgeist will simply never again support someone so pure of heart.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

Analysts pointed to a confluence of bullish factors behind bitcoin’s sharp rise.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

But more recently, a confluence of factors has made New York's coast less of a highway and more of a stomping ground.

From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026

Experts point to a confluence of factors — and, primarily, that consumers want choices.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 5, 2026

Pythagoras taught that God is a number; Xenophanes that it is a sphere, passionless and consubstantial with all things; Parmenides that it is but the confluence of earth and fire.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson

For Boggs, Baldwin’s nonfiction informed his fiction; there are “continuities and confluences between and across his work in both genres.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2025

Harel's focus on the confluences of Darwin's life rather than its conflicts offers a refreshing take on his legacy.

From Scientific American ● Oct. 15, 2022

So it has a lot of really wonderful confluences.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 5, 2021

Occasions formed confluences with other occasions: social, political, and personal themes that would make "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" more than just a movie.

From Salon ● May 26, 2019

Indeed, the magnificence of some of them who are detached for duty at certain "great confluences of human existence" is such that you see strangers standing and gaping at the giants in sheer amazement.

From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 11, No. 22, January, 1873 by Various

Related Words

• assemblage
• junction