Adherence

How to spell adherence

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce adherence

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does adherence mean?

1. nounSteady commitment to following a rule, agreement, standard, or belief.

Adherence in a sentence

• Strict adherence to the safety procedures kept the factory accident-free.

• The contract demands full adherence to the agreed payment schedule.

Where does adherence come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word goes back to the Latin verb adhaerere, which literally meant 'to stick to' or 'to cling to', formed from the prefix ad- meaning 'to' and the verb haerere meaning 'to stick or cleave'. French developed the form adherence from the same root, and English borrowed it in the early 1500s to describe the act of clinging firmly, whether physically or figuratively. Over time the figurative sense, meaning steady loyalty to a person, belief, or set of rules, became the dominant everyday meaning. The very same haerere root sits inside the related words 'adhesive', 'cohere', and 'hesitate', the last of which originally pictured someone stuck and unable to move forward. Remembering that 'adhere' shares its core with 'adhesive' helps fix the spelling, since both keep the same -her- in the middle.

How the word is built

• ad- (to)
• her (from Latin haerere: to stick or cling)
• -ence (noun-forming suffix)