coincidence
noun
co·in·ci·dence
| \ kō-ˈin(t)-sə-dən(t)s
, -sə-ˌden(t)s\
, -sə-ˌden(t)s\
Definition of coincidence
1
: the act or condition of coinciding : correspondence
… a perfect coincidence between truth and goodness …— Robert South
2
: the occurrence of events that happen at the same time by accident but seem to have some connection
… causal connection requires something more than mere coincidence as to time and place …— Wayne R. LaFave
also
: any of these occurrences
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Synonyms for coincidence
Synonyms
coexistence, concurrence, concurrency
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Examples of coincidence in a Sentence
It was mere coincidence that brought them together so far from Chicago.
By coincidence, every man in the room was named Fred.
“I'm going to Boston this weekend.” “What a coincidence! I am too.”
It was no coincidence that he quit his job at the bank a day after the robbery.
a series of strange coincidences
By a fortunate coincidence, we arrived at the theater at the same time.
Scientists have no explanation for the coincidence of these phenomena.
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Recent Examples on the Web
That this time of year coincides with fashion month has always seemed something of a cosmic joke, or a telling coincidence. — Vanessa Friedman, New York Times, "Immigration! Influencers! Climate Change! What to Expect This Fashion Month," 4 Sep. 2019 Yet there is something more at play than coincidence when all of BrickHouse Nutrition’s media partners are right-wing radio and TV hosts. — Richard Cooke, The New Republic, "The conservative commentariat’s love affair with nootropics," 3 Sep. 2019 The outlet did not receive confirmation from Blake or Gwen's reps, but Gwen did put her Beverly Hills estate on the market for $25 million, according to People, which doesn't seem like a coincidence. — Megan Stein, Country Living, "Do 'The Voice' Coaches Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani Live Together?," 1 Sep. 2019 The deep learning boom originated in the discovery that GPUs are well suited to the math underpinning the technique, a coincidence that has boosted the stock price of leading GPU supplier Nvidia eight-fold in the past five years. — Tom Simonite, WIRED, "To Power AI, This Startup Built a Really, Really Big Chip," 19 Aug. 2019 Following Mindhunter’s latest premiere on Friday, Herriman spoke with EW about how this casting coincidence came to be. — Nick Romano, EW.com, "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," 19 Aug. 2019 This was a highly significant coincidence for fandom. — Aja Romano, Vox, "4.7 million fanfics are now Hugo winners, thanks to AO3 and the transformative culture that built it.," 19 Aug. 2019 Sure, an 875% increase could be a mere coincidence. — Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY, "Garbage time, all the time: MLB sees historic spike in position players pitching," 19 Aug. 2019 And his three sons are following in his footsteps, a serendipitous coincidence that Bill Jauss, who died in 2012, would’ve absolutely loved. — Paul Sullivan, chicagotribune.com, "The next generation of Jausses is keeping Bill’s legacy alive, working in the sport he loved," 17 Aug. 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'coincidence.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for coincidence
coincidence
noun
English Language Learners Definition of coincidence
: a situation in which events happen at the same time in a way that is not planned or expected
formal
: the occurrence of two or more things at the same time
formal
: the state of two or more things being the same
See the full definition for coincidence in the English Language Learners Dictionary
coincidence
noun
co·in·ci·dence
| \ kō-ˈin-sə-dəns
\
\
Kids Definition of coincidence
1
: a situation in which things happen at the same time without planning
It was a coincidence that we chose the same week for vacation.
2
: a condition of coming together in space or time
The coincidence of the two events was eerie.
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