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:
That can make it difficult to determine which bacteria are genuinely associated with disease, which are simply present by coincidence, and which may have protective effects.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 7, 2026
That move wasn’t just coincidence, as data showed that there was a surge in South Korean investment in U.S. equities since March 2025.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 7, 2026
That his residency now dwarfs, in sheer scale, the fight-night masculinity the same building helped crown is not a coincidence I am willing to let pass quietly.
From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026
Half of those officers have been Black or female, which does not seem to be a coincidence.
From Slate ● Aug. 31, 2026
But the coincidence rests on a cheat—using dates from two different calendar systems.
From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin
You have to overlook a certain number of coincidences early on as Tom and Jake get acclimated to their new home, back in the town where Tom and his late wife grew up.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
That enigmatic response got the team at the brokerage Baird to look for coincidences between Dorsey and Satoshi.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 25, 2025
The main characters’ tales aren’t manipulated by forced coincidences — they simply overlap.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2025
"We wish you a lot of fun sensing about curious coincidences, criminal machinations of animals and the maximum flight speed of ducks," the post read.
From BBC ● May 13, 2025
Especially for the innumerate, a few vivid predictions or coincidences often carry more weight than much more conclusive but less striking statistical evidence.
From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos
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.
