noun · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
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/ˌɪnkəʊˈhɪəɹəns/
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
CMU ARPABET:IH2 N K OW0 HH IH1 R AH0 N S
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
The quality of being incoherent.
The quality of not making logical sense or of not being logically connected.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
Examples
1680, Henry Care, The History of the Damnable Popish Plot, London: B.R. et al., Chapter 23, Section 2, p. 327, [...] the said Lane is prevailed with [...] to prefer an Indictment against Dr. Oates, for attempting to commit upon him the horrid and detestable sin of Sodomy; but the Grand Jury, by reason of the incoherence and slightness of his Evidence, did not think fit to finde it, but returned an Ignoramus.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
The quality of being incoherent.
The quality of not holding together physically.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, obsolete, uncountable
Examples
1669, Robert Boyle, “The History of Fluidity and Firmness,” Section 16, in Certain Physiological Essays and Other Tracts, London: Henry Herringman, p. 182, [...] if it [Salt-Petre] be beaten into an impalpable powder, this powder, when it is pour’d out, will emulate a Liquor, by reason that the smallness and incoherence of the parts do both make them easie to be put into motion [...]
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
Something incoherent; something that does not make logical sense or is not logically connected.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
noun
Meaning 4
Thinking or speech that is so disorganized that it is essentially inapprehensible to others.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Italic *n̥- Latin in-bor. Middle English in- English in- Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Italic *kom Proto-Italic *kom- Latin con- Latin haereō Latin cohaereō Latin cohaerēns Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ia Latin cohaerentiader. Middle French coherenceder. English coherence English incoherence From in- + coherence, formed on model of Italian incoerenza.
Across languages
Translations
29 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Arabic:
تَهَافُت
(tahāfut)
— quality of being incoherent
Bulgarian:
несвързаност
(nesvǎrzanost)
— quality of being incoherent
Bulgarian:
непоследователност
(neposledovatelnost)
— quality of being incoherent
Catalan:
incoherència
— quality of being incoherent
Finnish:
sekavuus
— quality of being incoherent
Finnish:
epäjohdonmukaisuus
— quality of being incoherent
Finnish:
ristiriitaisuus
— quality of being incoherent
Finnish:
epäyhtenäisyys
— quality of being incoherent
French:
incohérence
— quality of being incoherent
Galician:
incoherencia
— quality of being incoherent
German:
Zusammenhanglosigkeit
— quality of being incoherent
German:
Inkohärenz
— quality of being incoherent
Greek:
ασυναρτησία
(asynartisía)
— quality of being incoherent
Greek:
ασυνέχεια
(asynécheia)
— quality of being incoherent
Greek:
ασυνάφεια
(asynáfeia)
— quality of being incoherent
Hindi:
असंगति
(asaṅgti)
— quality of being incoherent
Hindi:
विसंगति
(visaṅgti)
— quality of being incoherent
Italian:
incoerenza
— quality of being incoherent
Spanish:
incoherencia
— quality of being incoherent
