coincident
Americanadjective
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happening at the same time.
- Synonyms:
- synchronous, simultaneous
-
coinciding; occupying the same place or position.
-
exactly corresponding.
-
in exact agreement (usually followed bywith ).
adjective
-
having the same position in space or time
-
in exact agreement; consonant
Synonym Usage
See contemporary.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of coincident
1555–65; < Medieval Latin coincident- (stem of coincidēns ) present participle of coincidere to coincide; see -ent
Explanation
Coincident describes any group of people, moments, or ideas that seem to work together so perfectly that it’s spooky or beautiful, like it’s part of a big logical plan. Coincident is a mix of the prefix co- (meaning “together” and “similar”) and an incident, which means "a noteworthy event." So when you have two similar noteworthy events that happen together, they are coincident with one other. Professional dancers have dance moves coincident with one another. If you immediately know the answer to a question your teacher asks, your knowledge is coincident with the lessons being taught. Congrats, smarty pants.
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.
None is consistently good as even a coincident indicator, much less a leading one.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 12, 2026
In part, it’s a time capsule, recording the rise in the popularity of soul food, especially in northern cities, that was coincident with the Second Great Migration happening during this period.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 19, 2025
While volatility measures in the equity and bond markets ticked up in recent days, coincident with the selloff in frothy AI-related megacaps, they haven’t moved much on balance since the Oct.
From Barron's ● Nov. 8, 2025
"In the case of a lot of whales, population recoveries since the cessation of commercial whaling are coincident with increasing shipping traffic and increasing fishing efforts," said Stocker.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 21, 2024
It turns out that those three other subfamilies have coincident distributions, all of them tiny compared with the distribution of Malayo-Polynesian.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
