cohesion

C3O1H4E1S1I1O1N1
UK/kəʊˈhiː.ʒən/Canada, US/koʊˈhi.ʒən/Australia/kəʉˈhiː.ʒən/Australia[kəʉˈhɪi.ʒn̩]

noun

State of cohering, or of working together.

“Unit cohesion is important in the military.”

Opposite
Less commonScrabble 13

Meanings

nouncohesion (usually uncountable, plural cohesions)

plural cohesions · alternative archaic cohæsion

  1. uncountableusuallyState of cohering, or of working together.

    Unit cohesion is important in the military.

    1 more example

    For divers reasons, the capitalist class lacks this cohesion or solidarity, chief among which is the optimism bred of past success. And, again, the capitalist class is divided; it has within itself a class struggle of no mean proportions, which tends to irritate and harass it and to confuse the situation.

    1905 April, Jack London, “(please specify the page)”, in War of the Classes, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC
  2. uncountableusuallychemistryVarious intermolecular forces that hold solids and liquids together.
  3. uncountableusuallybiologyGrowing together of normally distinct parts of a plant.
  4. uncountableusuallycomputingDegree to which functionally related elements in a system belong together.

    In general, it is neither advisable nor possible to create such maximally cohesive classes; on the other hand, we would like cohesion to be high. When cohesion is high, it means that the methods and variables of the class are co-dependent and hang together as a logical whole.

    2009, Robert C. Martin, chapter 10, in Clean Code, Prentice Hall, →ISBN, page 140
  5. uncountableusuallyhuman sciencesGrammatical or lexical relationship between different parts of the same text.

Synonyms & antonyms

Opposite

nounthe state of cohering or sticking together

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. Latincohaesiō
  9. Frenchcohésion
  10. Englishcohesion

Attested from the late 17th century, borrowed from French cohésion, from Latin cohaesiō, cohaesiōnem.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian сцепление, кохезия
  • сцепление (sceplenie)the state of cohering, or of sticking together
  • кохезия (kohezija)the various intermolecular forces that hold solids and liquids together
Catalan cohesió, cohesió
  • cohesióthe state of cohering, or of sticking together
  • cohesióthe various intermolecular forces that hold solids and liquids together
  • cohesióthe degree to which functionally related elements belong together
Chinese Mandarin 銜接 /衔接, 凝聚力
  • 銜接 /衔接 (xiánjiē)the state of cohering, or of sticking together
  • 凝聚力 (níngjùlì)the state of cohering, or of sticking together
  • 凝聚力 (níngjùlì)the various intermolecular forces that hold solids and liquids together
Danish sammenhold, sammenhæng
  • sammenholdthe state of cohering, or of sticking together
  • sammenhængthe state of cohering, or of sticking together
  • samhørighedthe state of cohering, or of sticking together
  • sammenhængskraftthe various intermolecular forces that hold solids and liquids together
Dutch cohesie, samenhang
  • cohesiethe state of cohering, or of sticking together
  • samenhangthe state of cohering, or of sticking together
Finnish koheesio, yhtenäisyys
  • koheesiothe state of cohering, or of sticking together
  • yhtenäisyysthe state of cohering, or of sticking together
  • yhteistoimintathe state of cohering, or of sticking together
  • koheesiothe various intermolecular forces that hold solids and liquids together
  • yhteen kasvaminenthe growing together of normally distinct parts of a plant
  • koheesiothe degree to which functionally related elements belong together
  • koheesiolinguistics: grammatical or lexical relationship
  • sidoksisuuslinguistics: grammatical or lexical relationship
French cohésion, cohésion
  • cohésionthe state of cohering, or of sticking together
  • cohésionthe various intermolecular forces that hold solids and liquids together
German Zusammenhalt
  • Zusammenhaltthe state of cohering, or of sticking together
Greek συνοχή
  • συνοχή (synochí)the state of cohering, or of sticking together
Hungarian kohézió, összetartás
  • kohézióthe state of cohering, or of sticking together
  • összetartásthe state of cohering, or of sticking together
  • kohézióthe various intermolecular forces that hold solids and liquids together
  • kohézióthe degree to which functionally related elements belong together
Indonesian kohesi
  • kohesithe state of cohering, or of sticking together
Japanese 結合, 凝集力
  • 結合 (ketsugō)the state of cohering, or of sticking together
  • 凝集力 (gyōshūryoku)the various intermolecular forces that hold solids and liquids together
  • 凝集度 (gyōshūdo)the degree to which functionally related elements belong together
Korean 응집력
  • 응집력 (eungjimnyeok)the various intermolecular forces that hold solids and liquids together
Latin cohaesiō
  • cohaesiōthe state of cohering, or of sticking together
Malay kejeleketan, kohesi
  • kejeleketanthe state of cohering, or of sticking together
  • kohesithe state of cohering, or of sticking together
Persian انسجام
  • انسجام (ensejâm)the state of cohering, or of sticking together
Polish koherencja, kohezja
  • koherencjathe state of cohering, or of sticking together
  • kohezjathe state of cohering, or of sticking together
  • spójnośćthe state of cohering, or of sticking together
  • kohezjathe various intermolecular forces that hold solids and liquids together
  • kohezjathe growing together of normally distinct parts of a plant
  • spójnośćthe degree to which functionally related elements belong together
Portuguese coesão, coesão
  • coesãothe state of cohering, or of sticking together
  • coesãothe various intermolecular forces that hold solids and liquids together
  • coesãothe degree to which functionally related elements belong together
Russian еди́нство, сплочённость
  • еди́нство (jedínstvo)the state of cohering, or of sticking together
  • сплочённость (spločónnostʹ)the state of cohering, or of sticking together
  • сцепле́ние (sceplénije)the state of cohering, or of sticking together
  • связь (svjazʹ)the state of cohering, or of sticking together
  • коге́зия (kogézija)the various intermolecular forces that hold solids and liquids together
  • сцепле́ние (sceplénije)the various intermolecular forces that hold solids and liquids together
  • сраста́ние (srastánije)the growing together of normally distinct parts of a plant
  • свя́зность (svjáznostʹ)the degree to which functionally related elements belong together
Spanish cohesión, cohesión
  • cohesiónthe state of cohering, or of sticking together
  • cohesiónthe various intermolecular forces that hold solids and liquids together
Swahili mshikamano, mshikamano
  • mshikamanothe state of cohering, or of sticking together
  • mshikamanothe various intermolecular forces that hold solids and liquids together
Swedish sammanhållning
  • sammanhållningthe state of cohering, or of sticking together
Turkish bağlılık, kohezyon
  • bağlılıkthe state of cohering, or of sticking together
  • kohezyonthe various intermolecular forces that hold solids and liquids together
  • içyapışkanlıkthe various intermolecular forces that hold solids and liquids together
Ukrainian згурто́ваність, коге́зія
  • згурто́ваність (zhurtóvanistʹ)the state of cohering, or of sticking together
  • коге́зія (kohézija)the various intermolecular forces that hold solids and liquids together
  • зче́плення (zčéplennja)the various intermolecular forces that hold solids and liquids together

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with cohesion

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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