coherent
adjUK /kəʊˈhɪə.ɹənt/ · US /koʊˈhɛɹ.ənt/
Etymology From Middle French coherent, from Latin cohaērēns, from co- + haereō. By surface analysis, cohere + -ent.
10 senses
- 1Unified; sticking together; making up a whole.
- 2Orderly, logical and consistent.
- 3Aesthetically ordered.
- 4Having a natural or due agreement of parts; harmonious…
- 5Of waves having the same direction, wavelength and…
- 6Attaching or pressing against an organ of the same nature.
- 7Belonging to a specific class of sheaves having…
- 8In a technical sense, determined by the (topology of)…
- 9Finitely generated and such that all finitely generated…
- 10Such that every finitely generated (left) ideal is…
Unified; sticking together; making up a whole.
- These people professed that the universe was one coherent thing; but they were not fond of the universe.1909, Gilbert Keith Chesterton, chapter IV, in Orthodoxy:
- 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 more examples
- 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:
- She intimidated me so much that I could hardly get out a coherent sentence in her presence.2011, Claire Klein Datnow, Behind the Walled Garden of Apartheid: Growing Up White in Segregated South Africa, Media Mint Publishing, published 2011, →ISBN, page 124:
Orderly, logical and consistent.
- 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:
- 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:
3 more examples
- It will dissolve at death with the decay of the body, but it is a perfectly coherent belief that the faithful God will not allow it to be lost but will preserve it in the divine memory.2009, John Polkinghorne, Nicholas Beale, Questions of Truth: Fifty-One Responses to Questions about God, Science, and Belief, Westminster John Knox Press, published 2009, →ISBN, page 23:
- Presenting a balanced and coherent argument is an important aspect of a nonempirical dissertation and you need to spend some time considering the most useful route through your argument.2009, Carrie Winstanley, Writing a Dissertation For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., published 2009, →ISBN:
- 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:
Aesthetically ordered.
Having a natural or due agreement of parts; harmonious: a coherent design.
Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Physics Of waves having the same direction, wavelength and phase, as light in a laser.
Mathematics, Sciences Of a sheaf 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
Mathematics, Sciences, Topology 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.
Of a topology 𝒯 on a set T with respect to a family C_a of subsets of T
Algebra, Mathematics, Sciences Of a module Finitely generated and such that all finitely generated submodules are finitely presented.
Algebra, Mathematics, Sciences Of a ring Such that every finitely generated (left) ideal is finitely presented.
- Antonyms
- incoherent