Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A flowing together of two or more streams.
- n. The point of juncture of such streams.
- n. The combined stream formed by this juncture.
- n. A gathering, flowing, or meeting together at one juncture or point: "A confluence of negative events conspired to bring down bond prices” ( Michael Gonzalez).
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A flowing together; specifically, the meeting or junction of two or more streams of water or other fluids; also, the place of meeting: as, the confluence of the Ohio and the Mississippi: often used figuratively.
- n. A running together of people; an assemblage; a throng; a concourse.
- n. In philoh., the tending toward accordance, or the becoming similar or accordant in form: said of words.
- n. In psychology, the mutual assimilation of mental processes set up by adjacent stimuli: opposed to contrast.
Wiktionary
- n. The place where two rivers, streams, or other continuously flowing bodies of water meet and become one, especially where a tributary joins a river.
- n. The act of combining which occurs at the place where rivers and the like meet.
- n. A convergence or combination of forces, people, or things.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The act of flowing together; the meeting or junction of two or more streams; the place of meeting.
- n. Any running together of separate streams or currents; the act of meeting and crowding in a place; hence, a crowd; a concourse; an assemblage.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a place where things merge or flow together (especially rivers)
- n. a coming together of people
- n. a flowing together
Etymologies
- Borrowed from Late Latin confluentia, con- + fluere (Wiktionary)
Examples
“I watch myself in the mirror, and I hear the word confluence.”
“He also bewailed the fact that he had been born at what he called the confluence of Hugo and Balzac.”
“This fact is so important that we learned the English word 'confluence' in the 6th grade.”
“That these trends and practices coexisted with things that seem so quaint and archaic now — carriages, calling cards, balls, gas lights, aristocratic entitlement, rigid ideas of morality, a sense of the world as a map full of blank spaces, unknown wonders and dangers — that confluence is fascinating to me.”
“I would also like to think this confluence is based upon “real” substance, but sometimes I think it is just silly, too.”
“Giambrone himself calls the confluence of factors "a perfect storm.”
“And at that confluence is a vehement and open hatred of what I will call “American Otherness” — in essence, if you do not look anywheres like the powder-wigged, silk legging-ed founding fathers in the old image of the signing of The Declaration Of Independence, your rights — and any authority you may have through an Alger-esque climb through the ranks, or election to office by the people can simply be denied by those who do resemble our rouge-cheeked founding fathers.”
“I think I’m doubly stung because, in confluence with the hype train, they influenced my decision to go out and spend my hard earned dollars on the game.”
“Here's a perfect example of this process, from page 7 of John McPhee's Coming Into the Country: The Kitlik, narrow, and clear as the Salmon, rushes in white to the larger river, and at the confluence is a pool that could be measured in fathoms.”
“There is a summit in the park called the confluence of Shashe.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘confluence’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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Landforms
A Cyclopedia of Landforms.
plain, mountain, canyon, cliff, hill, arch, cave, plateau, mesa, butte, chimney, peneplain and 169 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2057 more...
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dameaning's list
negotiable
hegemony
stalagmite
wont
rasp
riddle
somnambulist
librocubicularisttertiary, constancy, acumen, tinder, confluence, insular, partiality, terse, vanguard, avant guard, irrascible, inverse and 27 more...
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connexion
link, joining, junction, concatenation, hookup, isthmus, ligament, articulation, node, tie, relation, intersection and 86 more...
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Favorite Words
pablum, maundy, histrionic, adamant, ascribe, verbiage, insouciant, erudite, gregarious, superfluous, banal, obdurate and 280 more...
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catinthehat345's List
compere, reticle, colophon, miasma, eldritch, raconteur, plectrum, poltroon, vestibular, pastiche, cravat, acumen and 179 more...
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My GRE Vocab
moniker, sobriquet, prerogative, aberration, aberrant, nuance, notorious, infamous, renown, allude, refer, content and 109 more...
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Words
Playa
schadenfreude, quixotic, serendipity, loquacious, ubiquitous, aforementioned, inherently, superfluous, dissonance, tersely, poignant, plethora and 108 more...
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Words I Know
List of most of the words I've learned
garner, abase, abate, abdicate, abduct, aberration, abet, abhor, abide, abject, abjure, abnegation and 1046 more...
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1stDay
lucid, tenacious, adhesive, cling, reconcile, scenic, picturesque, inundate, gastrointestinal, diarrhea, heredity, alimentary canal and 89 more...
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SAT vocab
abash, abate, abdicate, aberration, abhor, abject, abnegate, abortive, absolve, abstruse, accolade, accost and 175 more...
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Wenderful's Whirled World of Blurred ...
Lexicon I likez... in no order whatsoever.
omnivalence, cerebration, sprachgefühl, schadenfreude, rutabaga, septuagenarian, foible, vainglorious, leviathan, remunerative, catastrophize, ancillary and 182 more...
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List Erine
cool mint antiseptic
shalom, cattywampus, bourgeoisie, aerophile, traverse, grotto, epicurean, ex cathedra, nautilus, epitaph, lathe, continuum and 753 more...
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Aequoria's list
affect, deleterious, nuance, pliant, verbatim, pertinent, latter, municipality, provincial, voyeuristic, circumlocution, wane and 798 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for confluence.

ecrivaine33 Simple word, but I like the sound and the meaning of it. Sep 4, 2008