cohesive

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 18, 2010 is: cohesive • \koh-HEE-siv\ • adjective : exhibiting or producing a condition in which people or things are closely united Examples: Theirs was a cohesive and loving family, sticking together through bad times and good. "Put simply, arts and culture initiatives are essential to creating vibrant, prosperous and socially cohesive communities." -- From an article by Neil Darwin in Local Government Chronicle (LGC), September 30, 2010 Did you know? Our first example sentence contains a hint about the "sticky" origins of today's word -- "cohesive" ultimately derives from Latin "haerēre," meaning "to stick." Other descendants of "haerēre" in English include "adhere" ("to stick"), "inhere" ("to belong by nature or habit"), and even "hesitate." "Haerēre" teamed up with the prefix "co-" to form "cohaerēre," an ancestor of "cohesive," "cohesion" ("a sticking together"), "cohere" ("to stick together"), and "coherent" ("able to stick together" or "logically consistent"). Quiz content: See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.