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
In a landscape where so many shows foreground reveals and plots, Adolescence centers an emotional reality, one that can’t be cut around or spliced to create something coherent or streamlined.
—Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 18 Mar. 2025
Either the president has no coherent plans, or those plans are devious and not to be shared with the people.
—Llewellyn King, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Mar. 2025
Sarah Street, who heroically performed the work at a hurtling pace, confirmed for me that coherent narrative sense wasn’t what Beckett was aiming for.
—Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 16 Mar. 2025
The party has largely settled on a coherent message for 2026, warning of GOP cuts to Medicaid and other popular programs if Republicans succeed in passing their tax and border agenda later this year.
—David Sivak, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 11 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for coherent
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Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 18 Mar. 2025
Either the president has no coherent plans, or those plans are devious and not to be shared with the people.
—Llewellyn King, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Mar. 2025
Sarah Street, who heroically performed the work at a hurtling pace, confirmed for me that coherent narrative sense wasn’t what Beckett was aiming for.
—Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 16 Mar. 2025
The party has largely settled on a coherent message for 2026, warning of GOP cuts to Medicaid and other popular programs if Republicans succeed in passing their tax and border agenda later this year.
—David Sivak, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 11 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 27 Mar. 2025.
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