adjective
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characterized by or causing cohesion
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tending to cohere or stick together
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of cohesive
First recorded in 1720–30; cohes(ion) + -ive
Explanation
When the parts of the whole work or fit together well, they are cohesive, like a cohesive family whose members pitch in with everything from making dinner to painting the house. The adjective cohesive comes from the Latin word cohaerere, or “to cleave together.” Cohesive things stick together, so they are unified. A cohesive neighborhood's members get together to plan things like block parties, and they work together to solve problems. A cohesive fitness plan would include menus and exercise routines designed to lose weight, build muscle, and so on.
Vocabulary lists containing cohesive
Keystone Exams: English Composition Glossary
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Florida EOC Biology 1
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Content Summary G.2: Regionalization
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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.
At the end of another tumultuous day in Westminster it looks all but certain that it will now fall to him to fit all of this together into a cohesive government and functional political project.
From BBC • Jun. 22, 2026
“I get disappointed when I see so much of it devoted to this, and it’s keeping us from being more of a cohesive neighborhood.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 20, 2026
Describing her style as “Moroccan and rustic with a bit of modern elegance,” she told People, “I love to mix and match various styles to form one cohesive look in my home.”
From MarketWatch • May 28, 2026
Defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo, who has represented Sean “Diddy” Combs, Luigi Mangione and Harvey Weinstein, said that he usually seeks cohesive juries that might be receptive to his narrative.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 20, 2026
Paragraph breaks generally coincide with the divisions between branches in the discourse tree, that is, cohesive chunks of text.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
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.
