Coordination

How to spell coordination

12 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce coordination

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does coordination mean?

1. nounThe act of organising people, parts, or activities so they work together effectively.
2. nounThe smooth working together of muscles or body parts to produce controlled movement.

Coordination in a sentence

• The project relied on close coordination between the design and finance teams.

• The physiotherapist tested his balance and coordination after the injury.

• Poor coordination meant two departments ordered the same equipment twice.

• Juggling demands sharp hand-eye coordination.

Where does coordination come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin ordo, meaning 'order', 'row', or 'rank', the same root that gives us 'order' and 'ordinary'. From ordo came the verb ordinare, 'to arrange or set in order', and scholars later coined the Latin form coordinatio by adding co-, meaning 'together', to express the idea of arranging things into a shared, harmonious order. English picked it up in the seventeenth century, at first in fairly technical and philosophical writing about ranking things as equal rather than subordinate. Over time it broadened into the everyday senses of organising people and tasks and of making the body's movements work smoothly together. The spelling trap lives at the front: the doubled 'oo' comes from co- meeting the 'o' of ordinatio, so both vowels genuinely belong there.

How the word is built

• co- (together)
• ordin (from Latin ordo, order or rank)
• -ation (noun of action)