Coincide
Finals week landing on festival weekend, witnesses telling the same story unprompted, and data plots that overlap perfectly all get described with this verb: happening together without being planned together.
Learn This WordMeaning
To happen at the same time or in the same place; to be in exact agreement.
Memory trick
CO-INCIDE: two things “fall together” (incidere) onto the same point in time.
Examples
The campus festival coincides with final exams every spring.
Her account of the experiment coincides with the published data.
In the lecture, the professor noted that the two timelines coincide.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
From Medieval Latin coincidere "to fall together," from com- "together" + incidere "to fall upon." Two events fall on the same point.
Usage Notes
A TOEFL favorite for lectures and reading passages about events lining up in time or findings that agree.
Real-life contexts
Use in lectures: "This period coincides with rapid glacial retreat."
Use in discussion: "Her results coincide with ours."
Use in planning: "Try not to let deadlines coincide."
Common Mistakes
Coincide describes events or accounts matching, not people agreeing in opinion. Use “coincide with,” not “coincide to.”
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Part of Speech
verb
Difficulty
intermediateMonthly Searches
~40,500
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