cohere
Americanverb (used without object)
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to stick together; be united; hold fast, as parts of the same mass.
The particles of wet flour cohered to form a paste.
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Physics. (of two or more similar substances) to be united within a body by the action of molecular forces.
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to be naturally or logically connected.
Without sound reasoning no argument will cohere.
- Synonyms:
- follow
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to agree; be congruous.
Her account of the incident cohered with his.
verb
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to hold or stick firmly together
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to be connected logically; be consistent
-
physics to be held together by the action of molecular forces
Related Words
See stick 2.
Etymology
Origin of cohere
First recorded in 1590–1600; from Latin cohaerēre, equivalent to co- co- + haerēre “to stick, cling”
Explanation
When things cohere, they come together in a meaningful way. It wasn't until we won a game that our team finally cohered, and we actually felt like a unit. Co- means "together," and here is from the Latin haerēre, "to stick." Put them together and you have "to stick together." When people work together on a project, it's important that their ideas cohere, otherwise the work can seem disjointed and awkward. The beauty of the dance was in the timing: everyone was so in step that they seemed to cohere into one great mass of humanity. If the president's staff doesn't cohere into a cohesive unit, his policies will never come together either.
Vocabulary lists containing cohere
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Twelfth Night
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47 Great Words from "The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao," by Junot Diaz
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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.
The stories, likewise, are quasiparables, gesturing toward revelations that never quite cohere.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 14, 2025
And all the stories in this case — not just Cohen’s but those of other flawed witnesses such as Pecker and Daniels — cohere and ring true.
From Los Angeles Times • May 23, 2024
If the wishy-washy, parable-making and haywire everything else won’t cohere into true beauty or credible horror, then camp it is.
From New York Times • Feb. 22, 2024
But the elements never quite cohere in “Freud’s Last Session.”
From Seattle Times • Jan. 17, 2024
As White scrutinized the data in reports, one plausible story line after another seemed to cohere.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
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.
