coalesce
Americanverb (used without object)
-
to grow together or into one body.
The two lakes coalesced into one.
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to unite so as to form one mass, community, etc..
The various groups coalesced into a crowd.
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to blend or come together.
Their ideas coalesced into one theory.
verb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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uncoalescentadjective
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coalescencenoun
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noncoalescencenoun
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noncoalescingadjective
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noncoalescentadjective
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coalescentadjective
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has coalescedperfect 3rd person singular
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have coalescedperfect
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am coalescingprogressive 1st person singular
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are coalescingprogressive
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has been coalescingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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is coalescingprogressive 3rd person singular
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have been coalescingperfect progressive
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coalescingparticiple
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coalescessingular 3rd person
Past
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had coalescedperfect
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were coalescingprogressive plural
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was coalescingprogressive singular
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coalescedparticiple
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had been coalescingperfect progressive
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coalescedsimple
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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This Week in Words: December 9 - 15, 2017
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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.
I fear these factors will coalesce to make an eventual market downturn even more painful than it would be otherwise.
From Barron's • Jun. 5, 2026
He said the swarm appeared to coalesce as they flared up and down for several minutes, "forming a distinct triangle before vanishing".
From BBC • May 22, 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
He valued players who had built cohesiveness skating together at last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off, confident they could coalesce into a whole greater than the sum of their parts.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 21, 2026
In the fourth millennium B.C. those local cultures expanded geographically and began to interact, compete with each other, and coalesce.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
