coherent
adjective
co·her·ent
kō-ˈhir-ənt 
-ˈher-
1
a
: logically or aesthetically ordered or integrated : consistent
coherent style
a coherent argument
b
: having clarity or intelligibility : understandable
a coherent person
a coherent passage
2
: having the quality of holding together or cohering
3
a
: relating to or composed of waves having a constant difference in phase
coherent light
b
: producing coherent light
a coherent source
coherently
adverb
Examples of coherent in a Sentence
… the diaries and the novels demonstrate how a novelist tweaks and grooms reality into something more structured and coherent than life as it is lived.
—
Penelope Lively, Atlantic, February 2001
He is without a political agenda as he is without a coherent moral sensibility.
—Joyce Carol Oates, Entertainment Weekly, 27 July 1990
At times, without my insisting on it, my writings become coherent; the successive elements that occur to me are clearly related.
—William Stafford, Writing the Australian Crawl, 1978
This time the song was old, a pattern of rhythmic monosyllables which had lost coherent meaning somewhere in time.
—Tony Hillerman, The Blessing Way, 1970
He proposed the most coherent plan to improve the schools.
They are able to function as a coherent group.
Penelope Lively, Atlantic, February 2001
He is without a political agenda as he is without a coherent moral sensibility.
—Joyce Carol Oates, Entertainment Weekly, 27 July 1990
At times, without my insisting on it, my writings become coherent; the successive elements that occur to me are clearly related.
—William Stafford, Writing the Australian Crawl, 1978
This time the song was old, a pattern of rhythmic monosyllables which had lost coherent meaning somewhere in time.
—Tony Hillerman, The Blessing Way, 1970
He proposed the most coherent plan to improve the schools.
They are able to function as a coherent group.
Recent Examples on the Web
What’s worse, the White House has failed to mount a coherent campaign to explain the stakes to the American people.
—Steve Forbes, Forbes.com, 3 Apr. 2025
Isolationism as a Slur In the postwar era, isolationism devolved from a coherent strategic perspective into a term of political derision.
—Andrew Latham, JSTOR Daily, 27 Mar. 2025
All of this suggests there is no coherent Trump foreign policy doctrine.
—Zack Beauchamp, Vox, 25 Mar. 2025
On the pitch, Argentina are everything Brazil are not: settled, drilled, coherent.
—Jack Lang, The Athletic, 25 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for coherent
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Steve Forbes, Forbes.com, 3 Apr. 2025
Isolationism as a Slur In the postwar era, isolationism devolved from a coherent strategic perspective into a term of political derision.
—Andrew Latham, JSTOR Daily, 27 Mar. 2025
All of this suggests there is no coherent Trump foreign policy doctrine.
—Zack Beauchamp, Vox, 25 Mar. 2025
On the pitch, Argentina are everything Brazil are not: settled, drilled, coherent.
—Jack Lang, The Athletic, 25 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for coherent
Cite this Entry
“Coherent.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coherent. Accessed 12 Apr. 2025.
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