coalesce
Americanverb (used without object)
-
coalesces,
present (3rd person singular)
-
coalesced,
past participle, past
-
coalescing
present participle
-
to grow together or into one body.
The two lakes coalesced into one.
-
to unite so as to form one mass, community, etc..
The various groups coalesced into a crowd.
-
to blend or come together.
Their ideas coalesced into one theory.
verb (used with object)
-
coalesces,
present (3rd person singular)
-
coalesced,
past participle, past
-
coalescing
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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coalescencenoun
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noncoalescencenoun
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coalescentadjective
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noncoalescentadjective
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noncoalescingadjective
-
uncoalescentadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
coalescesimple
-
coalescessimple
-
have coalescedperfect
-
has coalescedperfect
-
am coalescingprogressive
-
are coalescingprogressive
-
is coalescingprogressive
-
have been coalescingperfect progressive
-
has been coalescingperfect progressive
Past
-
coalescedsimple
-
had coalescedperfect
-
was coalescingprogressive
-
were coalescingprogressive
-
had been coalescingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of coalesce
First recorded in 1535–45; from Latin coalēscere, equivalent to co- co- + al- (stem of alere “to nourish, make grow”) + -escere -esce
Explanation
Waiting for a plan to come together? You're waiting for it to coalesce. Coalesce is when different elements of something join together and become one. In coalesce, you see co-, which should tell you the word means "together." The other half of the word comes from alescere, a Latin verb meaning "to grow up." So if you are trying to start up a photography club at school, once you have an advisor, some interested students, and support from the administration, things will hopefully coalesce, or come together, to make it happen.
Vocabulary lists containing coalesce
"A Quilt of a Country," Vocabulary from the argument
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Flowers for Algernon
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myPerspectives 9.1
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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:
The coroner said the inquest aimed to give the Pearson family a voice, but added that their concerns "coalesce into two words of rhetoric – 'What if?'"
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
When “Digger” briefly strikes this resonant note, its warring aspects begin to coalesce, before Iñárritu strikes them with a shovel and breaks everything up again.
From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2026
Crowley and his backers had undertaken an intense late-July sprint to persuade Democrats to coalesce around him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
What the polls generally failed to foresee—and arguably shouldn’t have been expected to, given the fluctuating field—was that just enough voters would ultimately coalesce behind Crowley to put him over the top.
From Slate ● Aug. 12, 2026
About 300,000 years after their appearance, matter and energy started to coalesce into complex structures, called atoms, which then combined into molecules.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
A cohort of skilled people coalesces, and the Junglekeepers nonprofit is born, taking donations for land acquisition.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 29, 2026
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso, who often performs strongly early in sprint weekends before the natural order coalesces later on, was third fastest, 0.386secs off the pace.
From BBC ● Nov. 28, 2025
As it all coalesces, there is a sense of visceral, emotional catharsis that could only be achieved at the end of a long journey.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 17, 2024
All of it coalesces the sad moral of the story: these people are small.
From Salon ● Jun. 4, 2023
The group coalesces around the front-runners as Frederick and his pursuers get to their feet, all of them pasted with snow.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Until the opposition coalesced behind Mundubile, re-election had looked all but certain for the 64-year-old Hichilema, widely known as "HH".
From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026
Opposition has also coalesced around religious appeals from a theologically diverse group of residents, leaders and politicians who see data center development as an affront to their most sacred values.
From Salon ● Aug. 3, 2026
But instead of kicking up dust, breaking bats or throwing fits, the Feeneys coalesced in a green-and-yellow mass behind the dugout.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
Democratic voters and interest groups quickly coalesced behind Becerra, who was seen as a steady candidate with a long resume in California politics and a record of fighting the Trump administration.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2026
Blacks, most of whom did not work for Swift, coalesced in the narrow strip of land just east of the immigrants, forming the community that came to be known as the Black Belt.
From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield
Activists across the U.S. are coalescing around concerns about AI-related job losses, data-center sprawl and AI-fueled cyberattacks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
Opinion polls bear this out, with more voters saying they are undecided or coalescing behind any of the dozen prominent candidates who have announced bids.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 30, 2026
At another, the brand's logo transforms into people's arms, before these morph into a coalescing swirl of bodies.
From BBC ● Dec. 2, 2025
Economists say Fed officials are coalescing around another rate cut due to continued concern about the health of the jobs market.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 22, 2025
They are presumed to be planets that never quite made it, owing to the unsettling gravitational pull of Jupiter, which kept–and keeps–them from coalescing.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
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