coincidence

/koʊˈɪnsɪdəns/

Say it: ko-IN-sih-dunce

1. noun A remarkable occurrence of events or circumstances at the same time, apparently by chance and without a causal connection.
In an amazing coincidence, I was reading his biography right when he happened to walk into the cafe.
2. noun The fact of two or more things corresponding or happening at the same time.
The coincidence of the festival with the national holiday ensured a massive turnout.
3. noun The state of occupying the same position in space.
The experiment requires the perfect coincidence of the two laser beams on the target.

📖 Seen in the wild

It was a strange coincidence that we both arrived at the same restaurant at the exact same time.
collected by @vocablast

✏️ coincidence in a sentence

You're also from Austin? What a coincidence!
The police dismissed the fact that both men owned the same model of car as a mere coincidence.
By a happy coincidence, the expert we needed was already scheduled to visit our office next week.
He noted the strange coincidence of finding a four-leaf clover on the same day he won the lottery.
It is no coincidence that the company's profits rose just after the new CEO took over.
The historian's work was to separate causal links from historical coincidence.
She ran into her ex-boyfriend twice in one day, and she couldn't help but wonder if it was more than just a coincidence.

🔁 Synonyms & antonyms

chance accident fluke serendipity happenstance fortuity luck

chance · suggests randomness and a lack of control, without the element of surprise.

accident · implies an unforeseen event, often with a neutral or negative outcome.

fluke · an informal term that strongly emphasizes a surprising and unlikely stroke of good luck.

serendipity · refers specifically to a fortunate and unsought discovery made by accident.

Opposites: plan, design, intention, causality, deliberation

🌱 Where it comes from

The word entered English in the 1600s from the Medieval Latin 'coincidentia'. It's built from 'co-' meaning 'together' and 'incidere' meaning 'to fall upon'. Initially, it had a more literal, geometric meaning of things occupying the same space, but it soon developed its modern sense of events that 'fall upon' the same time by chance.

🧩 How it's used

Common patterns:

mere coincidencehappy coincidencestrange coincidencea series of coincidencesby coincidenceit is no coincidence that

The core meaning of coincidence rests on a lack of a causal link. While people often use it romantically or mysteriously to hint at fate ('Was it more than a coincidence?'), its strict meaning is the opposite: it happened by random chance. Be careful not to confuse it with irony, which involves a contradiction between what is expected and what occurs. A coincidence is surprising, while irony is surprisingly contradictory.

Word family: coincide, coincident, coincidental, coincidentally

💬 Quick answers

What does coincidence mean?

A coincidence is when two or more events happen in a surprising or notable way at the same time, purely by chance and without any apparent connection.

What is the difference between coincidence and serendipity?

A coincidence is a neutral term for any surprising chance event. Serendipity is specifically a positive or fortunate coincidence, often involving the discovery of something good when you were not looking for it.

Can a coincidence be planned?

No, by its very definition, a coincidence is unplanned and accidental. If an event is arranged or caused, it is not a coincidence.

Is 'just a coincidence' a common phrase?

Yes, phrases like 'just a coincidence', 'mere coincidence', or 'pure coincidence' are very common. They are used to emphasize that a surprising event happened purely by chance and has no deeper meaning.

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