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The Latin verb haerēre has shown remarkable stick-to-itiveness in influencing the English lexicon, which is fitting for a word that means "to be closely attached; to stick." Among its descendants are adhere (literally meaning "to stick"), adhere’s relative adhesive (a word for sticky substances), inhere (meaning "to belong by nature or habit"), and even hesitate (which implies remaining stuck in place before taking action). In Latin, haerēre teamed up with the prefix co- to form cohaerēre, which means "to stick together." Cohaerēre is the ancestor of cohesive, a word borrowed into English in the early 18th century to describe something that sticks together literally (such as dough or mud) or figuratively (such as a society or sports team).
Examples of cohesive in a Sentence
Tessa Cooper, Southern Living, 4 Jan. 2026
Zoe carried a small white leather purse, keeping the neutral color palette cohesive.
—Kelsey Stewart, Footwear News, 3 Jan. 2026
Can the group work as a cohesive unit even down a couple of starters?
—Adam Grosbard, Oc Register, 3 Jan. 2026
The firm builds exposure maps that visualize an individual’s digital vulnerabilities — linking addresses, relatives, dormant emails, old domains, platform accounts, leaked identifiers and dark-web traces into a single cohesive picture.
—Wyles Daniel, Miami Herald, 31 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cohesive
Cite this Entry
“Cohesive.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cohesive. Accessed 6 Jan. 2026.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
cohesive
adjective
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