coherent

adjective

co·​her·​ent kō-ˈhir-ənt How to pronounce coherent (audio)
-ˈher-
1
a
: logically or aesthetically ordered or integrated : consistent
coherent style
a coherent argument
b
: having clarity or intelligibility : understandable
a coherent person
a coherent passage
2
: having the quality of holding together or cohering
especially : cohesive, coordinated
a coherent plan for action
3
a
: relating to or composed of waves having a constant difference in phase
coherent light
b
: producing coherent light
a coherent source
coherently adverb

Examples of coherent in a Sentence

… the diaries and the novels demonstrate how a novelist tweaks and grooms reality into something more structured and coherent than life as it is lived. Penelope Lively, Atlantic, February 2001
He is without a political agenda as he is without a coherent moral sensibility. Joyce Carol Oates, Entertainment Weekly, 27 July 1990
At times, without my insisting on it, my writings become coherent; the successive elements that occur to me are clearly related. William Stafford, Writing the Australian Crawl, 1978
This time the song was old, a pattern of rhythmic monosyllables which had lost coherent meaning somewhere in time. Tony Hillerman, The Blessing Way, 1970
He proposed the most coherent plan to improve the schools. They are able to function as a coherent group.
Recent Examples on the Web Cecilia, whether because of the screenplay or the performance, never comes off as a fully coherent character. Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Mar. 2024 One strategy, called optical parametric oscillation, involves bouncing beams of laser light within a crystal, resulting in light organizing itself into pulses of coherent, stable waves. IEEE Spectrum, 12 Mar. 2024 With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic acting as an accelerator to existing trends, Perry embarked on a four-year odyssey of introspection and dialogue, aiming to decipher the challenges of an autonomous world and chart a course toward a more coherent future. Tracey Follows, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2024 Scorned by his more left-leaning colleagues, the border Democrat is finding allies among a newer, more moderate crop of lawmakers eager to develop a coherent message on an issue that is no longer isolated to the Southwest border region. Marianna Sotomayor, Washington Post, 8 Mar. 2024 Overall, the sentence seems to be more playful and whimsical than conveying a coherent message. Lance Eliot, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2024 Creating a coherent narrative in the aftermath of a disruption is a common impulse, Jamieson Webster, a psychoanalyst and an assistant professor at the New School, told me. Isle McElroy, The Atlantic, 16 Feb. 2024 Iran’s proxies link together the different theaters in the Middle East, creating a coherent, unified threat that simultaneously deters U.S. and Israeli action while imposing costs on both Jerusalem and Washington. Seth Cropsey, National Review, 10 Feb. 2024 Ultimately Beckman and Finkelstein, who were both paying themselves seven figure salaries and spent big on multiple offices in three cities, failed to generate revenue streams or communicate a coherent business strategy to staff. Lachlan Cartwright, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'coherent.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Middle French & Latin; Middle French coherent, borrowed from Latin cohaerent-, cohaerens "touching, adjacent, cohering," from present participle of cohaerēre "to cohere"

First Known Use

1557, in the meaning defined at sense 2a

Time Traveler
The first known use of coherent was in 1557

Dictionary Entries Near coherent

Cite this Entry

“Coherent.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coherent. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

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