COINCIDENCE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does coincidence mean? 

• COINCIDENCE (noun)
  The noun COINCIDENCE has 3 senses:

1. an event that might have been arranged although it was really accidental

2. the quality of occupying the same position or area in space

3. the temporal property of two things happening at the same time

  Familiarity information: COINCIDENCE used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COINCIDENCE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An event that might have been arranged although it was really accidental

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

coincidence; happenstance

Hypernyms ("coincidence" is a kind of...):

accident; chance event; fortuity; stroke (anything that happens suddenly or by chance without an apparent cause)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The quality of occupying the same position or area in space

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Context example:

he waited for the coincidence of the target and the cross hairs

Hypernyms ("coincidence" is a kind of...):

position; spatial relation (the spatial property of a place where or way in which something is situated)

Derivation:

coincident (matching point for point)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The temporal property of two things happening at the same time

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

co-occurrence; coincidence; concurrence; conjunction

Context example:

the interval determining the coincidence gate is adjustable

Hypernyms ("coincidence" is a kind of...):

simultaneity; simultaneousness (happening or existing or done at the same time)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "coincidence"):

concomitance (occurrence or existence together or in connection with one another)

overlap (the property of partial coincidence in time)

contemporaneity; contemporaneousness (the quality of belonging to the same period of time)

unison (occurring together or simultaneously)

Derivation:

coincide (happen simultaneously)

coincident (occurring or operating at the same time)

 Context examples 

This allowed them to construct a climatological picture of the duration, coincidence and overlap of each of these factors.

(Dangers of Concurrent Heat Waves, Air Pollution, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The matter was entirely beyond coincidence.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Was it, indeed, a coincidence that Lucas should meet his death on the night when the letter disappeared?

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The coincidence was too great, and they realised that p1 must lie within the supernova remnant itself.

(Dead Star Circled by Light, ESO)

The apparent coincidence may be an indication of twin nature in that comet.

(A 'Tail' of Two Comets, NASA)

Either the body fell from the roof, or a very curious coincidence has occurred.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A measuring process without any shielding septa restricting detectors' coincidences.

(PET Scanner 3D Mode, NCI Thesaurus)

A measuring process with shielding septa restricting detectors' coincidences.

(PET Scanner 2D Mode, NCI Thesaurus)

Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The coincidence struck me as too awful and inexplicable to be communicated or discussed.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)