Coincident

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /kəʊˈɪnsɪd(ə)nt/

Definitions

1. Happening simultaneously or sharing the same context while also being unexpectedly alike or in harmony with one another
2. Existing at the same moment or location, while simultaneously demonstrating significant similarity or concurrence in an unforeseen manner
3. Taking place together in time ; showing notable agreement or similarity in characteristics

Etymology: The original sense of this word was physical: to "fall together" in space. Latin "coincidere" combined "co-", meaning "together", with "incidere", "to fall into or upon", and "incidere" itself came from a root meaning "to fall", which is the same root behind "accident". So a coincident thing was, literally, something that fell at the same place as something else. The word reached English by way of French "coïncident", which had been borrowed from the Medieval Latin form "coincidentem". Its earliest senses were geometric and spatial, describing figures or lines that occupy the same position, and the sense of two events happening at once developed from that idea of two things meeting in one place. The modern sense, of things that happen together in a surprising way, grew out of this spatial meaning rather than replacing it. The noun "coincidence" was later formed from the adjective, and it is the noun that most people now use in everyday speech.

Synonyms: concurrent, simultaneous, coexisting

Antonyms: disparate, dissimilar