Meaning & use
cohesion
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Meanings
noununcountable
The state of a group or whole in which its parts stay united and work well together.
Grammar: Uncountable: social cohesion, not a cohesion.
Patterns
- cohesion among people
- cohesion within a group
The coach worked hard to build cohesion among the new players.
Shared meals increased cohesion within the family.
Neighborhood festivals help social cohesion.
noununcountabletechnical
In writing or speech, the way ideas and sentences are linked so that the text flows logically.
Grammar: Uncountable and used in language teaching: a text with good cohesion.
Patterns
- lack of cohesion
- cohesion in writing
The essay lacked cohesion because each paragraph jumped to a new idea.
Linking words such as however and therefore add cohesion.
The teacher praised the cohesion of her argument.
noununcountablephysicschemistry
The force that makes particles of the same substance stick to one another.
Grammar: Uncountable and scientific: water's cohesion lets it form drops.
Patterns
- cohesion of molecules
Cohesion between water molecules causes droplets to form.
The cohesion of the soil particles decreases when it dries out.
Surface tension is a result of molecular cohesion.
Common combinations
- social cohesion
- Good public spaces improve social cohesion.
- group cohesion
- Team games build group cohesion.
- lack cohesion
- The film lacks cohesion and feels like three stories joined together.
- promote cohesion
- The policy aims to promote cohesion between communities.
- cohesion and coherence
- A good essay needs both cohesion and coherence.
Synonyms and how they differ
- unity
- Unity stresses being one whole, while cohesion stresses how strongly the parts hold together.
- solidarity
- Solidarity describes support and shared feeling among people, whereas cohesion can describe any group or material.
- togetherness
- Togetherness is warmer and more informal, whereas cohesion is more analytical.
- adhesion
- Adhesion is sticking between different substances, while cohesion is sticking within the same substance.
Opposites
Word family
- cohesive adjective
- Sticking together well as a unit
- cohere verb
- To stick together or form a logical whole
- cohesively adverb
- In a united, well-connected way
- cohesiveness noun
- The quality of holding together
Commonly confused: cohesion or coherence? cohesion or adhesion?
cohesion vs coherence
Coherence is about ideas making logical sense, while cohesion is about the links and the unity that hold parts together.
cohesion vs adhesion
Adhesion is the sticking of two different substances, such as glue and paper.
Practice
Water droplets form beads because of the ____ between water molecules.
Choose one answer.
Cohesion is attraction between molecules of the same substance, so it explains why water sticks together. Adhesion would be attraction to a different material.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cohesion”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.