[Vocabulary] The word coherent

Status
Not open for further replies.

sisoruen

Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2011
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Slovenian
Home Country
Slovenia
Current Location
Slovenia
I just wonder if the word coherent can be used in the below example:

If a stupid person acts stupidly then his actions are coherent with who he is - a stupid person.
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
I just wonder if the word coherent can be used in the below example:

If a stupid person acts stupidly then his actions are coherent with who he is - a stupid person.

No, coherent means understandable or comprehensible. His actions might be understandable "considering who he is" but not "with who he is".

Simply, we don't use coherent in this way.
 

sisoruen

Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2011
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Slovenian
Home Country
Slovenia
Current Location
Slovenia
No, coherent means understandable or comprehensible. His actions might be understandable "considering who he is" but not "with who he is".

Simply, we don't use coherent in this way.

Thank you for the answer but how about under this definition which I found on the merriam-webster website:

1 a : logically or aesthetically ordered or integrated : consistent <coherent style> <a coherent argument>

I also found two examples of the use of the word coherent. Is the word wrongly used also here?

His work is an instant revelation, a reflection of the most personal concerns that he always felt with intensity, never crushed by swindles with money and always coherent with his convictions.

and:

All users produced designs that were internally coherent with both layout and navigational elements.
 

SoothingDave

VIP Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2009
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
You could say "consistent with who he is."
 

sisoruen

Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2011
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Slovenian
Home Country
Slovenia
Current Location
Slovenia
You could say "consistent with who he is."

Yes, but doesn't the word coherent in that context mean exactly that - consistent? Because here I am translating from my language (Slovene) and in my language the word coherent is koherenten . So, for example let me make a sentence in my language:

Prvi del trditve ni koherenten z drugim.

A literal translation here would be:

The first part of the claim is not coherent with the second part.

Also in this case I could indeed use the word consistent which in my language is konsistenten and the meaning would remain the same. Which means in this case the two words are basically synonyms.
 

SoothingDave

VIP Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2009
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
"Coherent" is perfectly fine in the two examples from the dictionary that you cite. I would not use it when talking about a person being consistent with himself.
 

sisoruen

Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2011
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Slovenian
Home Country
Slovenia
Current Location
Slovenia
"Coherent" is perfectly fine in the two examples from the dictionary that you cite. I would not use it when talking about a person being consistent with himself.

But if you are refering to this sentence:

His work is an instant revelation, a reflection of the most personal concerns that he always felt with intensity, never crushed by swindles with money and always coherent with his convictions.

Then saying coherent with his convictions also means coherent with himself since his convictions are also "himself" right?

Also I found examples used in articles like:

In so doing he has been above all coherent with himself and his vision of the United States and its history and culture.

Or:

And yet the deficiency of the accord between the Koranic references and the Bible stories themselves show that Mohammed was not consistent (coherent) with himself.

In this case is also clear that the author considered the words consistent and coherent quite similar if not the same.

Or:

Kane is a like a real person, always coherent with himself, but never banal or predictable:

Or:

And, when we reach that farther shore, we discover a man who is sensitive and honest, coherent with himself and with the world around him.

So, now I am quite confused.
 

SoothingDave

VIP Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2009
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Your examples show coherency with "himself" and something else. That is different.

I am not saying using "coherent" is wrong. But it is more common to use "consistent."
 

sisoruen

Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2011
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Slovenian
Home Country
Slovenia
Current Location
Slovenia
Your examples show coherency with "himself" and something else. That is different.

I am not saying using "coherent" is wrong. But it is more common to use "consistent."

ok, thanks, I got it.
 

Barb_D

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
If I read "coherant" there, I'd think it was a wrong word choice. Yes, you found it in the dictionary. But I've never read it used like that or considered using it that way myself.

I would use "consistent."
 

sisoruen

Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2011
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Slovenian
Home Country
Slovenia
Current Location
Slovenia
If I read "coherant" there, I'd think it was a wrong word choice. Yes, you found it in the dictionary. But I've never read it used like that or considered using it that way myself.

I would use "consistent."

yes, but I thought in this context the word coherent and consistent would practically mean the same.
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
yes, but I thought in this context the word coherent and consistent would practically mean the same.

I can see why, from the definitions, you would think that but unfortunately English doesn't always follow logical rules! Sometimes there are things that we just don't say.

In the case of a "coherent argument", for example, the various points of the argument hold together (they cohere) even when someone tries to pull the argument apart. You can't really apply that same idea to someone's behaviour.

I can't make much more of an attempt than anyone else to explain why it doesn't work when talking about someone's characteristics or behaviour, it just doesn't. As someone else already posted, "consistent" would be the most likely word you would see for that.
 

5jj

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
One of the problems with words that are not in the everyday speech of 'ordinary' people, and are also not not precisely defined technical terms, is that dictionaries can only make an attempt to define them, briefly, and give a few examples of their use. No dictionary has the space to cover every use, and no lexicographer can possibly know how every user of a word 'feels' about its meaning.

If you read the 3050 COCA or 1080 BNC examples of 'coherent' in use, you will get some idea of the shades of meaning. If you then try 'consistent' in these corpora, you will begin to sense the similarities - and differences.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top