Dictionary

cohere en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /kəʊˈhɪə/ (UK)
• /koʊˈhɪɚ/ (US)

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Italic *kom Proto-Italic *kom- Latin con- Latin haereō Latin cohaereōbor. English cohere Borrowed from Latin cohaereō (“cohere, cling (closely) together, harmonise, be consistent (with), be in agreement with”).

Meanings

1. (intransitive) To stick together physically, by adhesion.
   • Nothing coheres the way you expect. Substances float around each other until you crush them all with a blender. 2018 July 19, Zoe Williams, “Can ditching meat and dairy open up new taste sensations? My week as a foodie vegan”, in The Guardian:
   • Separate molecules will cohere because of electromagnetic force.
2. (figuratively, intransitive) To be consistent as part of a group, or by common purpose.
   • Members of the party would cohere in the message they were sending.
   • That dream of beautiful Paris was not likely to cohere into substance in the presence of this misfortune. 1878 January–December, Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], published 1878, →OCLC:
   • A system that degrades but coheres is a far better place to live than a system that completely collapses. 2024 April 15, Charles Hugh Smith, Financial Forecast 2025-2032: Please Don't Be Naive:
   • This division suggests that Khamenei is not playing his usual role of cohering the regime during a crisis. 2022 October 2, Nicholas Carl, Kitaneh Fitzpatrick, Zachary Coles, and Frederick W. Kagan, “Iran Crisis Update, October 2”, in Iran Project, Institute for the Study of War:

Forms

Deriveds

decohere · uncohered · coherer · recohere

Relateds

inhere · coherent · coherence · cohesive · adhere · cohesion

Translations (22)

fr attirer (to stick together) · de binden (to stick together) · bg прилепвам (to stick together) · fr s'attirer (to stick together) · de eine Einheit bilden (to stick together) · nl samenklitten (to stick together) · fr se cohérer (to stick together) · ca cohesionar (to stick together) · de aneinanderkleben (to stick together) · tr bağlantılı olmak (to be consistent as part of a group) · es cohesionar (to stick together) · de aneinanderhaften (to stick together) · tr birbirine yapışmak (to stick together) · tr birbirini tutmak (to stick together) · tr tutarlı olmak (to be consistent as part of a group) · de ein Ganzes bilden (to stick together) · de in sich geschlossen sein (to be consistent as part of a group) · tr uyuşmak (to be consistent as part of a group) · de zusammenhängen (to be consistent as part of a group) · bg съгласувам се (to be consistent as part of a group) · es ser coherente (to be consistent as part of a group) · la cohaereō (to stick together)