coherence

[koh-heer-uhns, -her-]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR coherence ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

logical interconnection; overall sense or understandability.

congruity; consistency.

Physics, Optics. (of waves) the state of being coherent.

Linguistics. the property of unity in a written text or a segment of spoken discourse that stems from the links among its underlying ideas and from the logical organization and development of its thematic content.Compare cohesion(def 4).

Also co·her·en·cy.

Origin of coherence

First recorded in 1570–80; coher(ent) + -ence

Related formsnon·co·her·ence, nounnon·co·her·en·cy, noun

Synonyms for coherence

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR coherence ON THESAURUS.COM

3. correspondence, harmony, agreement, rationality.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for coherence

continuity, unity, rationality, consistency, integrity, solidarity, correspondence, concordance, consonance, union, congruity, connection, construction, cling, tenacity, adherence, bond, conformity, attachment, intelligibility

Examples from the Web for coherence

Contemporary Examples of coherence

For now, the coherence and scale of Moral Mondays is a success ironically founded in shared defeat.
Progressive-palooza: On Obama, Occupy, and Moral Monday
Jedediah Purdy
July 5, 2014
He was talking about places that give a neighborhood its stability and coherence, where we can see familiar faces and decompress.
The Fourth Place
Richard Florida
July 6, 2010

Historical Examples of coherence

But you will say, what coherence has this remark with the matter in question?
Ebrietatis Encomium
Boniface Oinophilus
At about this point the conversation lost its coherence in Pop's ears.
In a Little Town
Rupert Hughes
There was no coherence in the noises he was making in his effort to speak words.
Joan of Arc of the North Woods
Holman Day
Consequently, they can no longer assume the coherence of language.
The Civilization of Illiteracy
Mihai Nadin
Why stifle his powers for the sake of a coherence which did not exist!
The Patrician
John Galsworthy

British Dictionary definitions for coherence

coherence

coherency (kəʊˈhɪərənsɪ)

noun

logical or natural connection or consistency

another word for cohesion (def. 1)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for coherence

late 16c., from Middle French cohérence (16c.), from Latin cohaerentia, noun of state from cohaerentem (see coherent). Related: Coherency.

coherence in Science

coherence

[kō-hîr′əns, -hĕr′-]

A property holding for two or more waves or fields when each individual wave or field is in phase with every other one. Lasers, for example, emit almost perfectly coherent light; all the photons emitted by a laser have the same frequency and are in phase. Since quantum states can be described by a wave equation, coherence can hold for quantum states in general, though only among bosons. Coherence is generally possible in physical systems that may undergo superposition. Maintaining coherence of light is important in fiber optic communications. See also Bose-Einstein condensate.