Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Coincidence |
CoincidenceNoun1. An event that might have been arranged although it was really accidental. 2. The quality of occupying the same position or area in space; "he waited for the coincidence of the target and the cross hairs". 3. The temporal property of two things happening at the same time; "the interval determining the coincidence gate is adjustable". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "coincidence" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1686. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Medicine | When the length of a bending wave in a panel coincides with the length of an incident sound wave at the angle at which it strikes the panel. There is a frequency below which coincidence cannot occur, called the "critical frequency" Source: European Union. (references) |
Nuclear Energy & Physics | A feature of protection system design such that two or more overlapping or simultaneous output signals from several channels are necessary in order to produce a protective action signal by the logic. Source: European Union. (references) |
| The occurrence of counts in two or more detectors simultaneously or within an assignable time interval. Source: European Union. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: CoincidenceSynonyms: concurrence (n), conjunction (n), co-occurrence (n), happenstance (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Concurrence | Noun: concurrence, cooperation, coagency; union; agreement; consilience; consent, coincidence; (assent); alliance; concert, additivity, synergy; partnership. |
Contiguity | Noun: contiguity, contact, proximity, apposition, abuttal, juxtaposition; abutment, osculation; meeting, appulse, rencontre, rencounter, syzygy, coincidence, coexistence; adhesion; touching; Verb: (see touch ). |
Identity | Noun: identity, sameness; coincidence, coalescence; convertibility; equality; selfness, self, oneself; identification. |
Synchronism | Noun: synchronism; coexistence, coincidence; simultaneousness, simultaneity; Adjective: concurrence, concomitance, unity of time, interim. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Coincidence |
| English words defined with "coincidence": Coincibency, concurrence, conjunction, Consilience, co-occurrence ♦ Double image micrometer ♦ Incoincidence ♦ Noncoincidence ♦ overlap. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "coincidence": Batten card, body-punched aspect card ♦ coincidence counter, coincidence hole card, coincidence resolving time ♦ Four Letters ♦ moby ♦ octal forty ♦ peek-a-boo card, peep-hole card, Plagiarism, power engineer, powerhouse engineer, power-plant engineer, POWER-PLANT OPERATOR ♦ tilting level, twin axis ♦ Wick, Wicked ♦ yoyo mode. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | They don't realize that there's this, like, lattice o' coincidence that lays on top o' everything. (Repo Man; writing credit: Alex Cox) It was all just a coincidence. (The Simpsons; writing credit: Artur Brauner; Paul Hengge) Is this coincidence, or are you back on the case? (Hannibal; writing credit: David Mamet) Right next to me! Up until now, one could write this off to coincidence. But then she reaches in her bag and pulls out a strawberry Pop-Tart---the very same breakfast pastry I was consuming at that moment! (Can't Hardly Wait; writing credit: Deborah Kaplan; Harry Elfont) Fellas, coincidence and fate figure largely in our lives. (Twin Peaks; writing credit: G. William Jones) | |
Lyrics | Passion or coincidence once prompted you to say (Ordinary World; performing artist: Duran Duran) | |
Clever | Coincidence is when God chooses to remain anonymous. (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Coincidence (1968) A Case of Coincidence (1996) Coincidence (1988) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Using a stereoscope to bring images on adjacent photographs into coincidence. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |  | "Men of Destroyer Division 91 crowd the foc'sle and superstructure of their ships in Sasebo, Japan, to receive their Navy Unit Commendations. During the presentation on the Mansfield, a crane crew in the background continues its task of installing new gun barrels on the De Haven. Streaks of red lead on the Collett and the Swenson in the foreground show the work that has occupied all the crews while in port. By coincidence the famed 'Sitting Duck' destroyers are berthed in their numerical order: USS De Haven (DD-727), Mansfield (DD-728), Lyman K. Swenson (DD-729), and Collett (DD-730)." Photograph and caption released by Commander Naval Forces, Far East, under date of 18 December 1951. Credit: NAVY. |
 | Quite a coincidence!. Credit: Library of Congress. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Title | Author | Quote |
So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish | Douglas Adams | |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | |
Walden | Thoreau, Henry David | Only what is thought, said, or done at a certain rare coincidence is good. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | But by coincidence, or so it seemed, the gene apoE, which produces the protein, was also on chromosome 19. Moreover, it was on the same region of chromosome 19 as the Alzheimer's gene for which they had been searching. (references) | |
Human Rights | Guatemala | Army officials dismissed the first event as coincidence. (references) |
Guyana | According to the GHRA, eight extrajudicial killings took place during the 2 months after the national elections, and the GHRA recommended investigations into the coincidence of periods of high levels of political lawlessness and such killings. (references) | |
Minorities | Russia | This isn't a pure coincidence that Orthodox Jews and institutions are being attacked as the most visible sign of Jewish presence in Russia." Numerous other anti-Semitic incidents occurred across the country during the year. (references) |
Political Economy | Oman | The same restriction was applied to Under Secretaries (Deputy Ministers) in 1998. Despite these measures, however, powerful individuals within the government continue to profit by the coincidence of their official duties and private sector business interests. (references) |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | PLAGIARISM, n. A literary coincidence compounded of a discreditable priority and an honorable subsequence. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Coincidence" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.21% of the time. "Coincidence" is used about 887 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 99.21% | 880 | 8,075 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.68% | 6 | 143,867 |
| Noun (common) | 0.11% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 887 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "coincidence": by coincidence ♦ coincidence hole card ♦ coincidence hole cards ♦ coincidence resolving time ♦ Fincham coincidence optometer. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "coincidence": coincidence-detection, coincidence-gravity. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
coincidence | 77 |
coincidence strange | 15 |
coincidence kennedy lincoln | 12 |
11 9 coincidence | 5 |
coincidence weird | 5 |
coincidence meaningful | 5 |
amazing coincidence | 4 |
11 11 coincidence | 4 |
coincidence design | 4 |
bizarre coincidence | 3 |
coincidence quote | 3 |
coincidence memory | 2 |
911 coincidence | 2 |
coincidence index | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "coincidence"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | përputhje e rastit, përkim (sequence). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | مصادفة (accident, accidental, by chance, chance, fortuitously, fortuity, haphazard, hazard, occurrence), تماكن (coincide), توافق (adjustable, adjustment, agree, agreement, chime, coincide, concord, correspond, correspondence, harmonization, harmonize, harmony, hit it off with smb., reconcile, work in with), تزامن (coincide, concur, concurrence, synchronization, synchronize), تطابق (agree, coincide, concurrence, consistency, correspond, correspondence, fitness, identification, identify, match, oneness, parallelism, self identification, symmetry), صدفة (accident, accidentally, at a venture, chance, contingency, haphazard, happening, incidentally, scallop, seashell, shell), إنطباق (conformity). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | съвпадение (concurrence, conjunction, consilience). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 巧合 . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | shoda okolností, náhoda (accident, chance, contingent, fortuity, fortune, hap, hazard, random). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | tilfældigt udfald, sammenfald (collapse), koincidens. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | coincidentie, coincidentia, coïncidentie, samengaan (accord, agree). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | همرویداد, توافق (Accord, Accordance, Adhesion, Agreement, Analogy, Band, Compromise, Concord, Concurrence, Consistency, Rapport, Settlement, Understanding), تصادف (Accidence, Chance, Concurrence, Encounter, Fortuity, Incidence, Occasion, Occurrence), انطباق (Conformity), اقتران (Conjuncture). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | koinsidenssi. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | coïncidence (concurrence). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | zusammentreffen (assemble, coincide, concourse, congregate, encounter, gather, join, liaison, meet, meeting), zufall (accidence, accident, chance, contingency, fluke, fortuity, fortune, freak, hap, happenstance, hazard), Koinzidenz, fügung (acquiescence, chance, construction, destiny, fate, foreordination, fortune, luck, ordinance, stroke of fate). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | σύμπτωση (chance, concurrence, contingency, fortuity, haphazard, incident), συγκυρία (chance, conjuncture). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | י" "מקר", תואם (analogue, commensurate, compatble with, compatible, congruous, coordination, corresponding, fit, harmony, matching, suitable, symmetry), זמון מקרים, חפיפ" (covering, overlap, superimposition, superposition), צרוף סבות (collocation, conjuncture). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | egybeesés (concurrence, juncture, overlap), véletlen (accidental, adventitious, casual, chance, contingent, fortuitous, fortune, hap, haphazard, happenstance, hazard, incidental, luck, occasional, promiscuous, random, unwitting), megegyezés (accord, accordance, agreement, arrangement, concurrence, congruence, consensus, consilience, consistence, consistency, consonance, consonancy, consort, contract, covenant, entente, go, squaring, stand in, stand-in, understanding), egybevágás. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | coincidenza (concurrence, connection, connexion, port, quirk). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 併発 (complication, concurrence), 一致 (agreement, conformity, consistency, co-operation, match, union). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | ふ"う (agreeing, mark, millionaire, negativesign, sign, symbol, wealthy person), ふ""う (anastomosis), いっち (agreement, conformity, consistency, co-operation, match, union), あ""う (code, password), へいはつ (complication, concurrence), とう"う (agreement, congeniality, equal sign, integration, synthesis, unification). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 일치 (Accordance, According, Consensus, matching, rapport). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | cliass. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Norwegian | sammentreff. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | oincidencecay coincidência. (various references) coincidenţã (concurrence, simultaneousness), acord (accede, accession, accord, accordance, agree, agreement, arrangement, assent, cheer, chord, compact, compliance, composition, concert, concord, concordance, concurrence, conformity, congeniality, congruence, congruity, consent, consentaneity, consistency, contract, convention, correspondence, covenant, harmony, key, permit, solidarity, treaty, understanding, uniformity, union, unison, unity). (various references) совпадение (alignment, concurrence, congruence, conjunction, consilience). (various references) sticaj, slučajnost (accidental, event, fortuitousness, fortuity, occurrence), koincidencija. (various references) coincidencia (agreement, overlap). (various references) slump (accidence, accident, chance, fortuitousness, fortuity, hazard, luck, remainder, remnant, rest), sammanträffande (coincident, concurrence, conjuncture, encounter, interview, meeting). (various references) เหตุการ"์บังเอิญ, การเกิ"ขึ้นพร้อมกัน, การสอ"คล้องต้องกัน. (various references) tesadüf (accident, chance, conjunction, contingency, encounter, flukey, fluky, fortuity, hap, happenstance, incidence), rastlantı (accident, concurence, conjunction, contingent, encounter, fortuity, hap, happenstance, incidence, irony), denk gelme, çatışma (battle, brush, clash, collision, conflict, disagreement, rencontre, run in, scrimmage, skirmish). (various references) збіг (concurrence, congruence). (various references) sự trùng khớp. (various references) cyd-ddigwyddiad. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | concursum. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "coincidence": coincidences. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "coincidence": noncoincidence. (additional references) | |
Words containing "coincidence": noncoincidences. (additional references) | |
| |
"Coincidence" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: cohincidence, coicidence, coincedence, coinceidence, coincidance, Coincidencia, coincidense, coincodence, coindcidence, coinncedence, coinsadence, coinsidence, concidence, cooincidence. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "coincidence" (pronounced kōi"nsuduns) |
| 8 | -i" n s u d u n s | incidence. |
| 6 | -s u d u n s | dissidence, precedence. |
| 5 | -u d u n s | confidence, decadence, evidence, overconfidence, Providence, residence. |
| 4 | -d u n s | abundance, accordance, ascendance, attendance, avoidance, cadence, correspondence, credence, dependence, guidance, impedance, imprudence, independence, interdependence, jurisprudence, overabundance, overdependence, prudence, riddance, subsidence, transcendence. |
| 3 | -u n s | abeyance, abhorrence, absence, abstinence, acceptance, acquaintance, acquiescence, adherence, admirations, admittance, adolescence, affluence, allegiance, alliance, allowance, ambiance, ambience, ambivalence, ambulance, annoyance, appearance, appliance, arrogance, assistance, assurance, audience, balance, belligerence, beneficence, benevolence, bioscience, brilliance, capacitance, chrominance, circumference, clairvoyance, Clarence, clearance, coexistence, cognizance, coherence, coinsurance, comeuppance, competence, compliance, concurrence, condolence, conference, confluence, conformance, congruence, connivance, conscience, consequence, consistence, continuance, contrivance, convalescence, convenience, convergence, conveyance, countenance, counterbalance, counterintelligence, dalliance, Defeasance, deference, defiance, deliverance, deterrence, deviance, difference, diligence, disallowance, disappearance, discontinuance, disobedience, dissonance, distance, disturbance, divergence, dominance, ebullience, elegance, eloquence, emergence, eminence, endurance, entrance, equivalence, essence, evanescence, excellence, existence, expedience, experience, extravagance, exuberance, flamboyance, Florence, forbearance, fragrance, furtherance, governance, grievance, hindrance, ignorance, imbalance, immanence, imminence, impatience, importance, impotence, inadvertence, incoherence, incompetence, incontinence, inconvenience, indifference, inductance, indulgence, inexperience, inference, influence, inheritance, innocence, insignificance, insistence, insolence, instance, insurance, intelligence, interference, intolerance, intransigence, invariance, irrelevance, irreverence, issuance, licence, license, luminance, luminescence, maintenance, malfeasance, negligence, neuroscience, noncompliance, noninterference, nonviolence, nuisance, obedience, observance, obsolescence, occurrence, omnipotence, omnipresence, opulence, ordinance, Ordnance, overreliance, parlance, patience, penance, performance, permanence, persecutions, perseverance, persistence, pestilence, petulance, phosphorescence, pittance, predominance, preeminence, preference, preponderance, prescience, presence, prevalence, prominence, protuberance, provenance, province, pseudoscience, quintessence, radiance, reappearance, reassurance, recalcitrance, recognizance, reconnaissance, recurrence, reemergence, reference, reinspections, reinsurance, relevance, reliance, reluctance, remembrance, reminiscence, remittance, repentance, resemblance, resilience, resistance, resonance, resurgence, reticence, reverence, science, semblance, senescence, sentence, sequence, severance, significance, silence, submergence, subservience, subsistence, substance, surveillance, sustenance, teleconference, temperance, tolerance, transference, transience, turbulence, unbalance, utterance, Valence, variance, vehemence, vengeance, videoconference, vigilance, violence, virulence. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-c-c-d-e-e-i-i-n-n-o" | |
-2 letters: incidence. | |
-3 letters: coincide. | |
-4 letters: codeine, concede, coniine, ecocide. | |
-5 letters: coccid, codein, coined, conine, conned, donnee, edenic, encode, iconic, indene, iodine, neoned. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-c-c-d-e-e-i-i-n-n-o" | |
+1 letter: coincidences. | |
+3 letters: noncoincidence. | |
+4 letters: noncoincidences. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)43 6F 69 6E 63 69 64 65 6E 63 65 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)-.-. --- .. -. -.-. .. -.. . -. -.-. . |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000011 01101111 01101001 01101110 01100011 01101001 01100100 01100101 01101110 01100011 01100101 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)C o i n c i d e n c e |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0043 006F 0069 006E 0063 0069 0064 0065 006E 0063 0065 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)3781758069757071806971 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Fiction 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Translations: Ancient 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Orthography 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
