cohesion

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noun co·he·sion \ kō-ˈhē-zhən \

Definition of cohesion

1 :the act or state of sticking together tightly; especially :unity

the lack of cohesion in the Party
—The Times Literary Supplement (London)

cohesion among soldiers in a unit

2 :union between similar plant parts or organs

3 :molecular attraction by which the particles of a body are united throughout the mass

—

cohesionless

play \kō-ˈhē-zhən-ləs\ adjective

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Examples of cohesion in a Sentence

There was a lack of cohesion in the rebel army.

Recent Examples of cohesion from the Web

The memorandum directs the department to consider unit cohesion, applicable law and resources in making the determination, the official said.

— Fortune, "Trump Orders Military to Reject New Transgender Recruits," 26 Aug. 2017
The memorandum directs the department to consider unit cohesion, applicable law and resources in making the determination, the official said.

— Fortune, "Trump Orders Military to Reject New Transgender Recruits," 26 Aug. 2017
The memorandum directs the department to consider unit cohesion, applicable law and resources in making the determination, the official said.

— jennifer jacobs, Bloomberg.com, "Trump Orders Military to Reject New Transgender Recruits," 25 Aug. 2017
Other red accents — found in oriental rugs and pillows throughout — pair with golden tones and give the space cohesion.

— madeleine winer, The Courier-Journal, "Turn-of-the-century prairie homestead takes you on a trip around the globe," 17 Aug. 2017
Arena added five starters to his lineup for the knockout round after cruising through group play unbeaten and the U.S., playing before an announced crowd of 31,615, struggled for cohesion for most of the first half.

— kevin baxter, courant.com, "U.S. Heading To Gold Cup Final Four For 9th Straight Time With 2-0 Win Over El Salvador," 19 July 2017
Canada’s simpler approach to taxes pays off big in public programs, and may actually improve social cohesion.

— rosa inocencio smith, The Atlantic, "The Atlantic Daily: Pressure's On," 18 July 2017
When five individual players combine to form the offensive line, a good unit operates within the scheme by displaying cohesion with the ability to protect the quarterback, control time of possession and establish the run.

— herbie teope, NOLA.com, "Ranking the NFC South: Offensive line," 14 July 2017
The contemporary drawings showed less cohesion (consisting of separate rather than related objects) and included less detail than those done by students when the study was initially conducted 20 years ago.

— tracy brown hamilton, The Atlantic, "The Diminishing Role of Art in Children's Lives," 5 July 2017

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

Did You Know?

Cohesion is one of the noun forms of cohere; the others are cohesiveness and coherence, each of which has a slightly different meaning. Coherence is often used to describe a person's speech or writing. An incoherent talk or blog post is one that doesn't "hang together;" and if the police pick up someone who they describe as incoherent, it means he or she isn't making sense. But to describe a group or team that always sticks together, you would use cohesive, not coherent. And the words you'd use in Chemistry class to describe the way molecules hang together—for example, the way water forms into beads and drops—are cohesion, cohesive, and cohesiveness.

Origin and Etymology of cohesion

borrowed from New Latin cohaesiōn-, cohaesiō (Medieval Latin, "proximity contact"), from Latin cohaes-, variant stem of cohaerēre "to stick together, cohere" + -iōn-, -iō -ion

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First Known Use: 1660

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