Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Word of the Day


coalesce \koh-uh-LES\,
verb:
1. to blend or come together: Their ideas coalesced into one theory.
2. to grow together or into one body: The two lakes coalesced into one.
3. to unite so as to form one mass, community, etc.: The various groups coalesced into a crowd.
4. to cause to unite in one body or mass.

All the small discoveries might soon coalesce into a major breakthrough—even a revolutionary one—but perhaps not in her lifetime, and certainly not bearing her name.
-- Deanna Fei, "A Thread of Sky," 2010

He is like a child learning what is too hot to touch, and he hopes all this experience will coalesce into a philosophy of life, or at least a philosophy of relationships, that will transform itself into instinct.
-- Steve Martin, "Shopgirl," 2000

Coalesce comes from the Latin roots co- meaning "with" and al- which is the stem of alere meaning "to nourish, make grow."

Dictionary.com Word of the Day