coherence

American  

[koh-heer-uhns, -her-] / koʊˈhɪər əns, -ˈhɛr- /

Also coherency

noun

1. the act or state of cohering; cohesion.

2. logical interconnection; overall sense or understandability.

3. congruity; consistency.

   Synonyms:

   rationality, agreement, harmony, correspondence

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

5. 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.

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coherence British  

/ kəʊˈhɪərənsɪ, kəʊˈhɪərəns /

noun

1. logical or natural connection or consistency

2. another word for cohesion

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coherence Scientific  

/ kō-hîr′əns,-hĕr′- /

1. 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.

2. See also Bose-Einstein condensate

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Other Word Forms

• noncoherence noun
• noncoherency noun

Etymology

Origin of coherence

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

Example Sentences

This would mean "joint supervision, harmonised insolvency and greater tax coherence, which go far beyond what is currently proposed", she told AFP.

From Barron's • Mar. 16, 2026

As if the ugliness of the 120 minutes wasn't enough - the grisly battle, the hair-on-fire panic, the abysmal lack of anything resembling coherence or even competence - there was the disgrace of the post-match.

From BBC • Mar. 8, 2026

“When these models were stacked together, they maintained coherence over extremely long horizons, allowing for high degrees of complexity,” Robbins said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 5, 2026

Bowe restores coherence by allowing federal prisoners to return to court when later developments reveal that earlier denials rested on conclusions the Supreme Court has since rejected.

From Slate • Jan. 10, 2026

We have a second arc of coherence spanning the text, which links all the manifestations of cold weather.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

Related Words

• consistency
• continuity
• integrity
• rationality
• solidarity
• unity