cohere

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verb co·here \ kō-ˈhir \

Updated on: 9 Aug 2017

Definition of cohere

cohered; cohering

intransitive verb

1 a :to hold together firmly as parts of the same mass; broadly :stick, adhere

b :to display cohesion of plant parts

2 :to hold together as a mass of parts that cohere

3 a :to become united in principles, relationships, or interests

b :to be logically or aesthetically consistent

transitive verb

:to cause (parts or components) to cohere

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Examples of cohere in a Sentence

the account in his journal coheres with the official report of the battle
beset by personal animosities, the people of the neighborhood could not cohere into an effective civic association

Recent Examples of cohere from the Web

For all its riotous color and energy, the movie ultimately coheres quite readily as a parable of personal and social liberation.

— justin chang, chicagotribune.com, "'Endless Poetry' review: Jodorowsky's parable of personal and social liberation," 27 July 2017
The GOP’s failure to cohere around a proposal is not an incidental problem.

— jonathan chait, Daily Intelligencer, "The ‘Skinny Bill’ Is a Farce. Here’s the Real Reason Republicans Are Doing It.," 26 July 2017
Gradually, the quirks and the knowledge cohere into an argument that makes sense of all that melancholy:

— lisa abend, New York Times, "A British Expat in Norway Gets Beyond the Scandinavian Stereotypes," 12 July 2017
Others have their moments, but the moments don’t cohere.

— laura collins-hughes, New York Times, "Review: Chasing ‘The Rivals’ on a Summer Evening," 26 June 2017
The parties tend to cohere pretty tightly – rich Republicans are much closer to poor Republicans than either is to the Democrats, and rich and Democrats share more in common than either does with Republicans.

— jonathan chait, Daily Intelligencer, "New Study Shows What Really Happened in the 2016 Election," 18 June 2017
The men’s meeting serves the cause of Irish reunification, but the movie itself never coheres into anything believable.

— peter rainer, The Christian Science Monitor, "'The Journey' is an unconvincing talkathon that might have worked better on the stage," 16 June 2017
The piece, written by Steven Epp, Dominique Serrand and Nathan Keepers, is performed in nine segments that cohere increasingly as the show goes on, pulling from past and present global events having to do with refugees.

— dominic p. papatola, Twin Cities, "Theater review: With ‘Refugia,’ The Moving Company finds its place," 20 May 2017
I was drawn to the way her music edged into different, old-timey genres, cohering around a belief that the American songwriting tradition was common ground.

— hua hsu, The New Yorker, "Valerie June’s Music Is a Reminder That Life Goes On," 3 May 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'cohere.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

cohere vs Adhere

When you finish writing a paper, you may feel that it coheres well, since it's sharply focused and all the ideas seem to support each other. When all the soldiers in an army platoon feel like buddies, the platoon has become a cohesive unit. In science class you may learn the difference between cohesion (the tendency of a chemical's molecules to stick together) and adhesion (the tendency of the molecules of two different substances to stick together). Water molecules tend to cohere, so water falls from the sky in drops, not as separate molecules. But water molecules also adhere to molecules of other substances, so raindrops will often cling to the underside of a clothesline for a while before gravity pulls them down.

Origin and Etymology of cohere

borrowed from Latin cohaerēre "to stick together, be in contact with, be connected," from co- co- + haerēre "to be closely attached, stick," going back to a stem *hais-, of obscure origin

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First Known Use: 1598

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