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.
Theirs is the maddening task of identifying dozens of notable artists sending radically different messages across a range of mediums, and then trying to make the work cohere in a single exhibition.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 13, 2026
"This has not happened before, with one department, one unit and one person having the responsibility to cohere and to coordinate the system," he added.
From BBC • Nov. 20, 2024
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
Beyond the libretto, there are musical challenges to making the piece cohere.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 22, 2024
Boyle was desperate to show that polished marble plates would cease to cohere in a vacuum because Galileo had said as much.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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.
