1
as in effectiveness
the capacity to persuade
the cogency of Thomas Paine's celebrated case for American independence
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in impact
the quality of an utterance that provokes interest and produces an effect
satirical comments of great cogency
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of cogency
In one of its most demanding assignments of recent memory, the San Francisco Opera Chorus led by John Keene embodies one population after another — monkeys, undersea dwellers, gods and heavenly hangers-on — and does it with power and cogency.
—
Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle, 15 Nov. 2025
TikTok’s algorithm started swamping me with humanities grad students of varying cogency.
—Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 17 Oct. 2025
Masterpiece remakes offer something very different, speaking to us with surprising urgency and cogency across time.
—Jim Shepard, New York Times, 12 Feb. 2025
The play echoes this ever-important sentiment but with far less cogency on an American stage.
—Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 15 Oct. 2024
European leaders refused to comment on the record about their perceptions of Biden’s cogency.
—Francesca Chambers, USA TODAY, 12 July 2024
The emphasis is on technical perfection, formal cogency, and unity of interpretive approach.
—Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 25 Mar. 2024
Here, his body of writing, published as well as unpublished, historical as well as contemporaneous, stands out for its cogency, intricacy, and fluency.
—Fredrik Logevall, Foreign Affairs, 20 Dec. 2022
But in her first directorial feature in 15 years, cinematographer Johnes doesn’t organize this material with ideal cogency.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 9 Nov. 2022
Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle, 15 Nov. 2025
TikTok’s algorithm started swamping me with humanities grad students of varying cogency.
—Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 17 Oct. 2025
Masterpiece remakes offer something very different, speaking to us with surprising urgency and cogency across time.
—Jim Shepard, New York Times, 12 Feb. 2025
The play echoes this ever-important sentiment but with far less cogency on an American stage.
—Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 15 Oct. 2024
European leaders refused to comment on the record about their perceptions of Biden’s cogency.
—Francesca Chambers, USA TODAY, 12 July 2024
The emphasis is on technical perfection, formal cogency, and unity of interpretive approach.
—Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 25 Mar. 2024
Here, his body of writing, published as well as unpublished, historical as well as contemporaneous, stands out for its cogency, intricacy, and fluency.
—Fredrik Logevall, Foreign Affairs, 20 Dec. 2022
But in her first directorial feature in 15 years, cinematographer Johnes doesn’t organize this material with ideal cogency.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 9 Nov. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cogency
Noun
-
My father mobilized peaceful protest with rare effectiveness — and was met with state violence.—
Noo Saro-Wiwa,
The Dial,
24 Mar. 2026
-
The fact that the barrels remain in an exceptional state of preservation speaks to the effectiveness of this 17th-century strategy to store lime long-term.—
Maria Mocerino,
Interesting Engineering,
23 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
MacEgan family speaks in court Before Abril was formally sentenced, the court allowed the MacEgan family to speak about the impact of these crimes and the family patriarch’s death.—
Rosalio Ahumada,
Sacbee.com,
26 Mar. 2026
-
While the $6 million in damages a jury in Los Angeles awarded to the 20-year-old plaintiff — which the companies vowed to appeal — will barely register on their balance sheets, the impact of the verdict will likely be more damaging and harder to quantify.—
Kurt Wagner,
Bloomberg,
26 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
But his dictionary, with its conclusiveness, was a huge publishing success.—
Louis Menand,
New Yorker,
22 Dec. 2025
Noun
-
Jami Gertz, part of the Atlanta Hawks ownership group alongside her husband Tony Ressler, has publicly embraced the cultural significance of Magic City.—
Rick Burton,
Sportico.com,
21 Mar. 2026
-
Before Saturday night, no pop concert had ever been held in Seoul’s Gwanghwamun Square, owing to the site’s deep historical and political significance.—
Nicole Fell,
HollywoodReporter,
21 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
The validity of this is not scientifically proven and requires further research.—
BestReviews,
Mercury News,
23 Mar. 2026
-
Olivier isn’t challenging the validity of his conviction to get relief or to seek monetary damages, Justice Elena Kagan wrote.—
Maureen Groppe,
USA Today,
20 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Heat stroke is a serious emergency and time is of the utmost importance when treating it.—
Brad Stulberg,
Outside,
25 Mar. 2026
-
The more complex the AI workload is, the more RAM is required to host and run the AI model, which makes memory capacity of paramount importance.—
Michael Justin Allen Sexton,
PC Magazine,
25 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Investigation details released Three adult men were finishing a shooting session when one man removed a magazine, covered the muzzle with his hand and accidentally pulled the trigger, authorities said.—
Doug Myers,
CBS News,
22 Mar. 2026
-
Appeals court proceedings unfold largely out of public view and are unlikely to surface new evidence, instead focusing on narrow legal questions about the president’s appointment authority and prosecutorial power.—
Kaelan Deese,
The Washington Examiner,
22 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
The beauty and persuasiveness of Claude’s response to Marks alone may be cause for skepticism, because personalization is one of Claude’s core product features.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
3 Mar. 2026
-
The study released Thursday is not the first to try to measure the persuasiveness of AI.—
David Ingram,
NBC news,
4 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Cogency.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cogency. Accessed 27 Mar. 2026.
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