coincidence

See also: coïncidence

English

Alternative forms

• coïncidence (rare, chiefly dated)
• coincidency (dated)
• quincidence (pronunciation spelling)

Etymology

From Middle French coincidence (French coïncidence). By surface analysis, coincide +‎ -ence.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kəʊˈɪnsɪdəns/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /koʊˈɪnsɪdəns/

  • Audio (California):

    (file)

• (Australia) IPA^(key): /kəʉˈɪnsɪdəns/

Noun

coincidence (countable and uncountable, plural coincidences)

1. The property of being coincident, occurring at the same time or place.
2. The appearance of a meaningful connection between events when there is none.

   That the two writers were born and died on the same day is just a coincidence, although there are many conspiracy theories about it.

   It is sheer coincidence that the cartoon resembles the local politician.

   • 1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume I: The Founders, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: powstanie (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 163:

     This is a matter of coincidence rather than historical continuity; there is, however, a link between Stirner and modern existentialism through Nietzsche, who had read Stirner's work though he nowhere expressly refers to it.

3. (mathematical analysis) A coincidence point.
4. (geometry) A fixed point of a correspondence; a point of a variety corresponding to itself under a correspondence.

Synonyms

• (of objects and time): concurrentness, synchronicity; see also Thesaurus:simultaneousness
• (in analysis): coincidence point

Derived terms

• anthropic coincidence
• anticoincidence
• cohencidence
• cohencidental
• coincidence method
• coincidence point
• coincidence technique
• coincidence theorist
• coincidence theory
• coinkydink
• divine coincidence
• incoincidence
• index of coincidence
• Lefschetz coincidence theorem
• noncoincidence

Related terms

• coincide
• coincident
• coincidental
• coincidentally

Translations

of objects, property of being coincident

• Bulgarian: съвпаде́ние (bg) n (săvpadénie)
• Czech: koincidence (cs) f
• Finnish: yhtäaikaisuus (fi) (of time)
• French: coïncidence (fr) f
• Hungarian: egybeesés (hu)
• Malay: keadaan serentak (ms)​
• Māori: oruatanga
• Russian: совпаде́ние (ru) n (sovpadénije)
• Spanish: coincidencia (es) f, casualidad (es) f
• Ukrainian: збіг m (zbih)

state of events appearing to be connected when they are not

• Arabic: صُدْفَة (ar) f (ṣudfa), مُصَادَفَة f (muṣādafa), تَصَادُف m (taṣāduf)

  Hijazi Arabic: صُدْفة f (ṣudfa)

• Armenian: պատահականություն (hy) (patahakanutʻyun)
• Azerbaijani: təsadüf (az)
• Belarusian: збе́жнасць f (zbjéžnascʹ), супадзе́нне n (supadzjénnje)
• Bulgarian: съвпаде́ние (bg) n (săvpadénie)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 巧合 (zh) (qiǎohé)

• Czech: náhoda (cs) f, koincidence (cs) f
• Danish: sammenfald n, sammentræf n
• Dutch: toeval (nl) n
• Esperanto: koincido
• Estonian: kokkusattumus (et)
• Finnish: yhteensattuma (fi)
• French: coïncidence (fr) f
• German: zufälliges Zusammentreffen m, Koinzidenz (de) f, Zufall (de) m
• Greek: σύμπτωση (el) f (sýmptosi)

  Ancient Greek: σύμπτωσις f (súmptōsis)

• Hawaiian: ūlialia
• Hebrew: צירוף מקרים m (tserúf mikrím)
• Hindi: संयोग (hi) m (sãyog), इत्तिफ़ाक़ m (ittifāq)
• Hungarian: véletlen egybeesés
• Italian: coincidenza (it) f
• Japanese: 一致 (ja) (いっち, itchi), 偶然 (ja) (ぐうぜん, gūzen), 符合 (ja) (ふごう, fugō), 偶然の一致 (ぐうぜんのいっち, gūzen no itchi)
• Korean: 일치(一致) (ko) (ilchi), 우연의 일치 (uyeonui ilchi), 우연(偶然) (ko) (uyeon)
• Lithuanian: sutapimas m
• Macedonian: совпаѓање n (sovpaǵanje), случајност f (slučajnost)
• Malay: kebetulan (ms)
• Māori: oruatanga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sammentreff n, sammenfall n, tilfeldighet (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: samantreff m or n, samanfall

• Persian:

  Dari: تَصَادُف (tasāduf)

  Iranian Persian: تَصادُف (tasâdof)

• Polish: zbieg okoliczności (pl) m, koincydencja (pl) f, przypadek (pl) m, traf (pl) m
• Portuguese: coincidência (pt) f
• Romanian: coincidență (ro) f
• Russian: совпаде́ние (ru) n (sovpadénije)
• Scottish Gaelic: co-thuiteamas m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: случајност f, коинциденција f

  Latin: slučajnost (sh) f, koincidencija (sh) f

• Slovak: náhoda f
• Slovene: nakljúčje (sl) n
• Spanish: coincidencia (es) f, casualidad (es) f
• Swedish: sammanträffande (sv)
• Tajik: тасодуф (tg) (tasoduf)
• Tamil: தற்செயல் (ta) (taṟceyal)
• Turkish: tesadüf (tr), rastlantı (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: تصادف (tesâdüf)

• Ukrainian: збіг m (zbih), збі́жність f (zbížnistʹ)
• Urdu: اِتِّفاق (ur) m (ittifāq), تَصادُف m (tasāduf)

coincidence point — see coincidence point

geometry: fixed point of a correspondence

• Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can