coherency

co·he·ren·cy
C3O1H4E1R1E1N1C3Y4
UK/kəʊˈhɪə.ɹən.si/US/koʊˈhɪə.ɹən.si/

noun

The state of being coherent; a coherent relationship.

UncommonScrabble 19

Meanings

nouncoherency (countable and uncountable, plural coherencies)

plural coherencies

  1. countableuncountableThe state of being coherent; a coherent relationship.

    even in all things therein created, there must be some image, somewhat resembling, and having coherencie with the workeman that wrought and framed them.

    1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC
    2 more examples

    By ten o’clock the police organisation, and by midday even the railway organisations, were losing coherency, losing shape and efficiency, guttering, softening, running at last in that swift liquefaction of the social body.

    1895–1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Exodus from London”, in The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, published 1898, →OCLC, book I (The Coming of the Martians), page 150

    Then, as she released me, I made it out to her, made it out perhaps only now with full coherency even to myself. “Two hours ago, in the garden”—I could scarce articulate—“Flora saw!”

    1898, Henry James, chapter VII, in The Turn of the Screw

Synonyms & antonyms

nounthe state of cohering or sticking together

nounlogical and orderly and consistent relation of parts

Similar

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ḱe?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ḱóm
  3. Proto-Italic*kom
  4. Proto-Italic*kom-
  5. Latincon-
  6. Latinhaereō
  7. Latincohaereō
  8. Latincohaerēns
  9. Latincohaerentia
  10. Englishcoherency

From Latin cohaerēntia.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

coherency. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coherency

MLA

“coherency.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coherency. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “coherency,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coherency.

Source: coherency on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.