Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Sticking together; cohering.
  • adjective Marked by an orderly, logical, and aesthetically consistent relation of parts.
  • adjective Physics Of, relating to, or having waves with similar direction, amplitude, and phase that are capable of exhibiting interference.
  • adjective Of or relating to a system of units of measurement in which a small number of basic units are defined from which all others in the system are derived by multiplication or division only.
  • adjective Botany Sticking to but not fused with a part or an organ of the same kind.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Sticking, or sticking together; cleaving, as the parts of a body, solid or fluid, or as one body or substance to another; adhesive.
  • Connected; consistent; having a natural or due agreement of parts; consecutive; logical: said of things: as, a coherent discourse.
  • Observing due order, connection, or arrangement, as in thinking or speaking; consistent; consecutive: said of persons.
  • Suited; fitted; adapted; agreeing.
  • In botany, sometimes used for connate.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Sticking together; cleaving; as the parts of bodies; solid or fluid.
  • adjective Composed of mutually dependent parts; making a logical whole; consistent.
  • adjective Logically consistent; -- applied to persons.
  • adjective obsolete Suitable or suited; adapted; accordant.
  • adjective (Physics, Optics) Of or pertaining to electromagnetic waves that have a constant phase relationship with each other; having identical phase at all points.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Unified; sticking together; making up a whole.
  • adjective Orderly, logical and consistent.
  • adjective Aesthetically ordered.
  • adjective Having a natural or due agreement of parts; harmonious: a coherent design.
  • adjective physics Of waves having the same direction, wavelength and phase, as light in a laser.
  • adjective botany Attaching or pressing against an organ of the same nature.
  • adjective mathematics Belonging to a specific class of sheaves having particularly manageable properties closely linked to the geometrical properties of the underlying space.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective (physics) of waves having a constant phase relation
  • adjective sticking together
  • adjective capable of thinking and expressing yourself in a clear and consistent manner
  • adjective marked by an orderly, logical, and aesthetically consistent relation of parts

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin cohaērēns, from co- + haereō.

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