Cohaerere

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To be united in close connection ; to cling or stick together as elements or parts ; to be logically consistent or coherently linked as ideas or arguments
2. To remain joined firmly in association ; to adhere or bond tightly as components or substances ; to demonstrate conceptual harmony or agreement in reasoning
3. To stay closely attached or connected ; to hold together through physical, conceptual, or logical unity ; to exhibit cohesion or affinitive consistency among members, items, or thoughts

Etymology: Latin "cohaerere" combines "com-", meaning "together", with "haerere", meaning "to stick, cling, or hold fast." Its literal sense was physical: things that clung to one another. English "cohere" comes straight from this Latin verb, and its uses now range from physical bodies holding together, to parts forming a unified whole, to arguments or stories that hang together logically. The root "haerere" also produced a surprising family of English words. Its frequentative form, "haesitare", meant "to keep sticking," and it gave us "hesitate," since someone who hesitates is figuratively stuck and unable to move forward. The same root lies behind "adhere" and "adhesive," and "inherent" comes from "inhaerere," "to cling within."

Synonyms: cohere, adhere, stick, cling, bond

Antonyms: separate, detach, disperse, scatter, break