Cohesive

How to spell cohesive

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce cohesive

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does cohesive mean?

1. adjectiveForming a united, well-connected whole in which the parts fit together logically or smoothly.

Cohesive in a sentence

• The manager praised the report for being clear and cohesive.

• A cohesive team shares the same goals and works without friction.

Where does cohesive come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb cohaerere, which meant 'to stick together' or 'to cling as one'. That verb was built from the prefix co-, meaning 'together', and haerere, meaning 'to cling' or 'to stick fast'. English first borrowed the noun 'cohesion' in the 1600s, mainly as a term in physics for the force that holds the particles of a body together, and the adjective 'cohesive' followed in the early 1700s. Over time the meaning widened from physical sticking to describe groups, arguments, or designs that hang together as a unified whole. The same haerere root also gave us 'adhere' and 'inherent', and remembering that 'stick' connection helps explain why the word keeps its single 's' sound spelled with an s rather than the z it seems to suggest.

How the word is built

• co- (together)
• haes/hes (from haerere: to stick, cling)
• -ive (adjective suffix)