coalesce
Americanverb (used without object)
-
coalesces,
present (3rd person singular)
-
coalesced,
past participle, past
-
coalescing
present participle
-
to grow together or into one body.
The two lakes coalesced into one.
-
to unite so as to form one mass, community, etc..
The various groups coalesced into a crowd.
-
to blend or come together.
Their ideas coalesced into one theory.
verb (used with object)
-
coalesces,
present (3rd person singular)
-
coalesced,
past participle, past
-
coalescing
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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coalescencenoun
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noncoalescencenoun
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coalescentadjective
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noncoalescentadjective
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noncoalescingadjective
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uncoalescentadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
coalescesimple
-
coalescessimple
-
have coalescedperfect
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has coalescedperfect
-
am coalescingprogressive
-
are coalescingprogressive
-
is coalescingprogressive
-
have been coalescingperfect progressive
-
has been coalescingperfect progressive
Past
-
coalescedsimple
-
had coalescedperfect
-
was coalescingprogressive
-
were coalescingprogressive
-
had been coalescingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of coalesce
First recorded in 1535–45; from Latin coalēscere, equivalent to co- co- + al- (stem of alere “to nourish, make grow”) + -escere -esce
Explanation
Waiting for a plan to come together? You're waiting for it to coalesce. Coalesce is when different elements of something join together and become one. In coalesce, you see co-, which should tell you the word means "together." The other half of the word comes from alescere, a Latin verb meaning "to grow up." So if you are trying to start up a photography club at school, once you have an advisor, some interested students, and support from the administration, things will hopefully coalesce, or come together, to make it happen.
Vocabulary lists containing coalesce
"A Quilt of a Country," Vocabulary from the argument
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Flowers for Algernon
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myPerspectives 9.1
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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:
What the polls generally failed to foresee—and arguably shouldn’t have been expected to, given the fluctuating field—was that just enough voters would ultimately coalesce behind Crowley to put him over the top.
From Slate ● Aug. 12, 2026
His supporting cast of Europe-based almost-stars will need to coalesce big time.
From Salon ● Jun. 11, 2026
In the runoff, Harris will face only Fuller, who may see Georgia's Republicans coalesce behind him.
From BBC ● Mar. 10, 2026
Party leaders did coalesce behind one of the Democrats running to replace Pelosi, Scott Wiener, a liberal state senator who is vying be the first openly gay person to represent San Francisco in Congress.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 22, 2026
A Level Three Awkward Silence began to coalesce around us, like interstellar hydrogen pulled together by gravity to form a new nebula.
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
A cohort of skilled people coalesces, and the Junglekeepers nonprofit is born, taking donations for land acquisition.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 29, 2026
But IndieWire's Caleb Hammond said: "While this version contains its fair share of standout sequences along with Oscar-ready performances, the film never fully coalesces into an effective, singular, emotional narrative."
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2024
But it coalesces around especially trendy aesthetics and a staunch desire to live responsibly.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2024
The movie can be confusing as the parallel realities become ever more complex, but it eventually coalesces into a poignant tale about the stories we tell ourselves in order to deal with traumatic events.
From New York Times ● Apr. 12, 2024
The group coalesces around the front-runners as Frederick and his pursuers get to their feet, all of them pasted with snow.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Until the opposition coalesced behind Mundubile, re-election had looked all but certain for the 64-year-old Hichilema, widely known as "HH".
From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026
Opposition has also coalesced around religious appeals from a theologically diverse group of residents, leaders and politicians who see data center development as an affront to their most sacred values.
From Salon ● Aug. 3, 2026
Several of those donors then coalesced behind former Biden Cabinet member Xavier Becerra, who was struggling to connect with California voters before he surged to become a front-runner, recent opininon polls show.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 26, 2026
A wary Tinseltown reluctantly coalesced around the Netflix bid, seeing it as the lesser of two evils, but Paramount's willingness to stump up ever greater sums eventually saw the streamer withdraw.
From Barron's ● May 13, 2026
A gray haze in the rosy distance that suddenly coalesced and blackened over the house before it plummeted through the History-hole like smoke in a film running backwards.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
Activists across the U.S. are coalescing around concerns about AI-related job losses, data-center sprawl and AI-fueled cyberattacks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
A battle between gold bugs and bullion bears appeared to be coalescing around the $4,000 an ounce mark on Tuesday, as the precious metal is on track to register its worst quarter in 13 years.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
Yet Harding will, indeed, become a full-fledged one, bringing his own ideas and projects as well as coalescing all the parts into a bigger picture.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 26, 2026
At another, the brand's logo transforms into people's arms, before these morph into a coalescing swirl of bodies.
From BBC ● Dec. 2, 2025
Before her eyes, the skin from the ceiling dripped down, coalescing into the shape of a man.
From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi
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.
