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The Latin verb haerēre has shown remarkable stick-to-itiveness in influencing the English lexicon, which is fitting for a word that means "to be closely attached; to stick." Among its descendants are adhere (literally meaning "to stick"), adhere’s relative adhesive (a word for sticky substances), inhere (meaning "to belong by nature or habit"), and even hesitate (which implies remaining stuck in place before taking action). In Latin, haerēre teamed up with the prefix co- to form cohaerēre, which means "to stick together." Cohaerēre is the ancestor of cohesive, a word borrowed into English in the early 18th century to describe something that sticks together literally (such as dough or mud) or figuratively (such as a society or sports team).
Examples of cohesive in a Sentence
Jenn McGraw, MSNBC Newsweek, 5 Dec. 2025
This is a really solid and cohesive group.
—Clark Fahrenthold, San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 Dec. 2025
The royals are known to coordinate their outfits for group occasions, and the matching blue looks created a cohesive style as the big day began.
—Janine Henni, PEOPLE, 3 Dec. 2025
The next era of biohacking will merge genomics, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence into cohesive platforms for predictive healthcare.
—Ascend Agency, Mercury News, 2 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cohesive
Cite this Entry
“Cohesive.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cohesive. Accessed 8 Dec. 2025.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
cohesive
adjective
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