coincidence
Americannoun
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coincidences
plural
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a striking occurrence of two or more events at one time apparently by mere chance.
Our meeting in Venice was pure coincidence.
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the condition or fact of coinciding.
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an instance of this.
noun
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a chance occurrence of events remarkable either for being simultaneous or for apparently being connected
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the fact, condition, or state of coinciding
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(modifier) electronics of or relating to a circuit that produces an output pulse only when both its input terminals receive pulses within a specified interval Compare anticoincidence
coincidence gate
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of coincidence
First recorded in 1595–1605; coincid(ent) + -ence
Explanation
People love to talk about strange coincidences––like you and your mother having the same birthday, or two unrelated families named "The Martins" living next door to each other. A coincidence is something that's not planned or arranged but seems like it is. Technically, a coincidence is an occurrence of events that happen at the same time by total accident––like you and a kid from your class at school both visit the Grand Canyon on the same day. Weird. If some guy is stalking you, always running into you wherever you go, this is not a coincidence. That guy has memorized your schedule.
Vocabulary lists containing coincidence
Wonder
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"The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs
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Twelve Angry Men
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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.
See Examples For:
"When I first started doing Nashville I thought, well, it's just a coincidence that our our lives are have so many similarities," she said.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
There was joy in pretending this was a complete coincidence and not a highly probable event; these were all ladies with bangs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
If you want to be cynical you could chalk it up to coincidence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
This coincidence means the Moon blocks out the Sun's light, but still lets scientists see what is happening in its atmosphere.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
The coincidence of a marriage and then a divorce both occurring in cities named Moscow was ironic enough to make headlines in local newspapers.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
She complains, meets Jerry, sparks fly, but through a series of tortured coincidences she confuses Jerry for Horace.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026
Wright gave evidence, arguing many of the prosecution's arguments were coincidences.
From BBC ● Feb. 2, 2026
That enigmatic response got the team at the brokerage Baird to look for coincidences between Dorsey and Satoshi.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 25, 2025
It’s been a troubling year of coincidences for Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
From Salon ● Sep. 24, 2025
And in the end, Harold’s imperfect audio system happened to be the last note in the melody of coincidences that changed my life.
From "Turtles All the Way Down" by John Green
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.
