incoherence
Americannoun
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the quality or state of being incoherent.
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something incoherent; an incoherent statement, article, speech, etc.
Etymology
Origin of incoherence
Explanation
Incoherence is a quality of being unclear, disjointed, or nonsensical. The incoherence of the scavenger hunt's instructions resulted in everyone running in different directions looking hopelessly confused. A political candidate's incoherence usually hurts their chances of winning an election, since no one really understands what they stand for. And if your English teacher comments on the incoherence of your latest essay, you might want to get some extra writing help. When ideas, words, or thoughts don't hold together quite right, that's incoherence. The Latin root is cohaerere, "stick together."
Vocabulary lists containing incoherence
Additional Shakespeare Articles
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here, hes (stick; adhere)
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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.
The first was oracular and inscrutable, a chairman who bragged he had learned to mumble with great incoherence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 2026
Kate Wagner of McMansion Hell argued that this architectural incoherence stems, in fact, from the modern homebuyer’s saturation in Zillow and Redfin.
From Slate ● Mar. 6, 2025
Minutes later, the 77-year-old launched into a rant about Master Lock, again slipping into incoherence.
From Salon ● May 2, 2024
But Besson soon finds his way to tonal incoherence: a mishmash of somber character exploration and flagrant clichés.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 29, 2024
My grandfather, accustomed to the multifarious conjugations of ancient Greek verbs, had found English, for all its incoherence, a relatively simple tongue to master.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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.
