synchronicity

noun

syn·​chro·​nic·​i·​ty ˌsiŋ-krə-ˈni-sə-tē 

ˌsin-

plural synchronicities

1

: the quality or fact of being synchronous

2

: the coincidental occurrence of events and especially psychic events (such as similar thoughts in widely separated persons or a mental image of an unexpected event before it happens) that seem related but are not explained by conventional mechanisms of causality

—used especially in the psychology of Carl Gustav Jung

Did you know?

"It happens to everyone sooner or later: A certain number pops up wherever you go; an old friend you haven't seen in 20 years since high school appears the same day you're looking at her picture in a yearbook; you're singing a song and turn on the radio—and the same song is playing." Such coincidences, here described by Thomas Ropp in The Arizona Republic, March 29,1999, are examples of synchronicity. The concept is linked to the psychology of Carl Jung. Jung didn't coin the word (the "simultaneousness" sense of synchronicity was already in use), but he gave it special importance in his writings. Jung believed that such "meaningful coincidences" play an important role in our lives. Today, some people even look to synchronicities for spiritual guidance.

Examples of synchronicity in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Here’s an easy exercise: Push your palms together and move your fingers back and forth in synchronicity for a few sets of 20 reps each. —Allie Conti, Field & Stream, 19 Oct. 2023

The Birkie, and other winter activities like it, depends on the synchronicity of human time and climate time. —Tatiana Schlossberg, Outside Online, 25 Mar. 2023

The synchronicity and timing of movements suggest each player knows the others’ role to a tee. —Henry Flynn, Forbes, 22 Feb. 2023

And while his neo-Buddhist worldview may seem like an odd bedfellow for Roma activism, the two are finding remarkable synchronicity among the school’s students. —Marc Loustau, The Christian Science Monitor, 6 Sep. 2023

Cowell praised the group for its seamless synchronicity onstage. —USA TODAY, 21 June 2023

This synchronicity of happiness and delight is not only present in interpersonal relationships but also in meaningful customer interactions as well. —Jose Herrera, Forbes, 3 May 2023

There is a wonderful synchronicity between the knowledge of the teacher and what Lay and his contemporaries called the wish-energy of the student, such that the external world of the classroom appears to be changed into a dream world, a respite from the school that, paradoxically, exists within it. —Merve Emre, The New Yorker, 11 July 2023

Children absorbing the lack of love, each suffering their own lack of synchronicity with familial and social expectations. —Concita De Gregorio, The Hollywood Reporter, 2 June 2023

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Word History

First Known Use

circa 1889, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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Medical Definition

synchronicity

noun

syn·​chro·​nic·​i·​ty ˌsiŋ-krə-ˈnis-ət-ē, ˌsin- 

plural synchronicities

: the coincidental occurrence of events and especially psychic events (as similar thoughts in widely separated persons or a mental image of an unexpected event before it happens) that seem related but are not explained by conventional mechanisms of causality

—used especially in the psychology of C. G. Jung