Dictionary

coherent en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /koʊˈhɛɹ.ənt/ (General-American)
• audio Gloucestershire
• /kəʉˈhɪə.ɹənt/ (Australia)
• /kɐʉˈhiə.ɹənt/ (New-Zealand)
• /koʊˈhiɹ.ənt/ (General-American)
• /kɐʉˈhiːə.ɹənt/ (New-Zealand)
• /koːˈhɪɹ.ənt/ (Canada)
• audio Queensland
• (US) audio
• /kəʊˈhɪə.ɹənt/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Italic *kom Proto-Italic *kom- Latin con- Latin haereō Latin cohaereō Latin cohaerēnsder. Middle French coherentder. English coherent From Middle French coherent, from Latin cohaērēns, from co- + haereō. By surface analysis, cohere + -ent.

Meanings

1. Unified; sticking together; making up a whole.
   • Anglia, is part of a wider phenomenon of the seventh century - the development of recognisable, coherent kingdoms from the fragmented tribal society which emerged from the ruins of Roman Britain. 2005, Tom Williamson, Sandlands: The Suffolk Coast and Heaths, Windgather, published 2005, →ISBN, page 15:
   • They estimate that an individual fragment remains coherent for only about 10,000 years once it is exposed to the surrounding gas. After that, its material is largely shredded and mixed into interstellar space. 2026 August 12, Jim Shelton, “A dying star offers a rare glimpse of how the universe recycles its raw materials”, in YaleNews, archived from the original on 12 Aug 2026:
   • A sentence like this one cannot be understood unless somehow we can store the underlined words for several seconds, while we wait for the rest of the sentence to arrive, with the information needed to complete a coherent thought. 1997, Bernard J. Baars, “Psychology in a World of Sentient, Self-Knowing Beings: A Modest Utopian Fantasy”, in Robert L. Solso, editor, Mind and Brain Sciences in the 21st Century, MIT Press, published 1999, →ISBN, page 7:
2. Orderly, logical and consistent.
   • The underlying problem with transport policy is that there no coherent strategy. Ministers have tended to encourage greater use of motor vehicles through both transport and (particularly) planning policies, while simultaneously warning of the terrible consequences of unfettered growth of road use. 2020 December 2, Christian Wolmar, “Wales offers us a glimpse of an integrated transport policy”, in Rail, page 56:
   • Perhaps Khrushchev did have a coherent plan in mind at the time he placed the nuclear missiles in Cuba. 2007, Kenneth R. Hammond, Beyond Rationality: The Search for Wisdom in a Troubled Time, Oxford University Press, published 2007, →ISBN, page 108:
   • At present she is unable to give any coherent account of the past, and the doctors hold out no hopes of the reestablishment of her reason. 1904 December, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Second Stain”, in The Return of Sherlock Holmes, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., published February 1905, →OCLC:
3. Aesthetically ordered.
4. Having a natural or due agreement of parts; harmonious: a coherent design.
5. Of waves having the same direction, wavelength and phase, as light in a laser.
6. Attaching or pressing against an organ of the same nature.
7. (of a sheaf, qualifier:sheaf theory) Belonging to a specific class of sheaves having particularly manageable properties closely linked to the geometrical properties of the underlying space. See Coherent sheaf on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
8. (of a topology 𝒯 on a set T with respect to a family C_a of subsets of T) In a technical sense, determined by the (topology of) the subsets. Formally, Such that 𝒯 is the finest topology on T for which the inclusion maps ιₐ:C_a→T are continuous, where each C_a is considered with its subspace topology.
9. (of a module) Finitely generated and such that all finitely generated submodules are finitely presented.
10. (of a ring) Such that every finitely generated (left) ideal is finitely presented.

Forms

Antonyms

incoherent · disjointed

Deriveds

coherent light · semicoherent · unicoherent · anticoherent · noncoherent · autocoherent · coherentization · discoherent · coherentist · supercoherent · decoherent · coherentism · quasicoherent · uncoherent · coherently

Relateds

coherence · cohesive · inherent · adherent · cohere

Translations (86)

it coerente (orderly, logical and consistent) · hu koherens (sticking together) · gv resoonagh (orderly, logical and consistent) · hu egységes (orderly, logical and consistent) · fa مرتب (aesthetically ordered) · nl samenhangend (sticking together) · fi koherentti (of waves having the same direction, wavelength and phase) · ru свя́зный (sticking together) · el συνεκτικός (orderly, logical and consistent) · he עקבי (sticking together) · cmn 連貫的 /连贯的 (orderly, logical and consistent) · bg последователен (orderly, logical and consistent) · cmn 有條理的 /有条理的 (orderly, logical and consistent) · gd pongail (orderly, logical and consistent) · de folgerichtig (orderly, logical and consistent) · cmn 相干的 (of waves having the same direction, wavelength and phase) · ru когере́нтный (of waves having the same direction, wavelength and phase) · de kohärent (sticking together) · fr cohérent (orderly, logical and consistent) · cs soudržný (sticking together) · ms koheren (of waves having the same direction, wavelength and phase) · pt coerente (orderly, logical and consistent) · gv colhiantynagh (orderly, logical and consistent) · de zusammenhängend (sticking together) · pt coerente (sticking together) · nb koherent (sticking together) · ru свя́зный (orderly, logical and consistent) · da sammenhængende (orderly, logical and consistent) · el συνδεδεμένος (sticking together) · fi samanvaiheinen (of waves having the same direction, wavelength and phase) · la contextus (orderly, logical and consistent) · fi yhtenäinen (sticking together) · pl koherentny (orderly, logical and consistent) · eo kohera (of waves having the same direction, wavelength and phase) · nl coherent (sticking together) · es coherente (of waves having the same direction, wavelength and phase) · nl coherent (orderly, logical and consistent) · cs ucelený (orderly, logical and consistent) · ar مُتَرَابِط (orderly, logical and consistent) · ca coherent (of waves having the same direction, wavelength and phase) · de schlüssig (orderly, logical and consistent) · pl spójny (orderly, logical and consistent) · sq koherént (orderly, logical and consistent) · nl samenhangend (orderly, logical and consistent) · de stimmig (aesthetically ordered) · bg свързан (sticking together) · hu összefüggő (sticking together) · fi koherentti (sticking together) · ca coherent (orderly, logical and consistent) · cs koherentní (of waves having the same direction, wavelength and phase) · he קוהרנטי (sticking together) · gl coherente (orderly, logical and consistent) · fr cohérent (of waves having the same direction, wavelength and phase) · el σύμφωνος (of waves having the same direction, wavelength and phase) · es coherente (sticking together) · fi koherentti (orderly, logical and consistent) · bg съгласуван (sticking together) · de widerspruchsfrei (orderly, logical and consistent) · uk зв'я́зний (sticking together) · pl koherentny (of waves having the same direction, wavelength and phase) · ru после́довательный (orderly, logical and consistent) · hu koherens (orderly, logical and consistent) · pt coerente (of waves having the same direction, wavelength and phase) · cs souvislý (orderly, logical and consistent) · oc coerent (orderly, logical and consistent) · he עקיב (sticking together) · fi sopusointuinen (aesthetically ordered) · es coherente (orderly, logical and consistent) · ca coherent (sticking together) · fi johdonmukainen (orderly, logical and consistent) · cmn 凝聚的 (sticking together) · bg ясен (orderly, logical and consistent) · kk когеренттi (of waves having the same direction, wavelength and phase) · de kohärent (orderly, logical and consistent) · mt koerenti (orderly, logical and consistent) · eo kohera (orderly, logical and consistent) · ar مُلْتَحِم (orderly, logical and consistent) · el συνεκτικός (sticking together) · bg кохерентен (of waves having the same direction, wavelength and phase) · el συναφής (sticking together) · de kohärent (of waves having the same direction, wavelength and phase) · nb koherent (of waves having the same direction, wavelength and phase) · gv co-haagh (sticking together) · nn koherent (sticking together) · fa منسجم (orderly, logical and consistent) · nn koherent (of waves having the same direction, wavelength and phase)