What does coinciding mean?
"Coinciding" is the present participle of the verb "coincide," describing things that happen at the same time, occupy the same place, or agree exactly with one another. Two events can be coinciding when their dates overlap; two shapes can coincide when they cover each other precisely; and two people's opinions can coincide when they match without prior arrangement. The word typically appears in neutral to formal contexts — news reports noting that an announcement is coinciding with a holiday, or scientific writing about signals coinciding across instruments — and it usually takes the preposition "with." Importantly, coinciding does not imply cause and effect: it records alignment in time, space, or content, whether by chance or design. Derived from Latin roots meaning "to fall together," the word belongs to a family including "coincidence" and "coincident," and it offers writers a precise way to describe temporal or logical alignment without asserting causality.
verbPresent participle of "coincide": to occur at the same time or occupy the same position in space; also, to be in agreement or correspondence with something else.
- (of events) To occur at the same time.
- (of things in space) To occupy exactly the same position or area.
- (of opinions, interests, or accounts) To correspond exactly or be in agreement.
"The festival's closing night was coinciding with the start of the harvest season."
"The eclipse was coinciding perfectly with the scheduled observation window."
"Their views on education were coinciding more closely than either had expected."
When two things are coinciding, they aren't colliding by accident of meaning — the word literally means 'falling together,' from Latin roots that gave us 'accident' and 'cadence.'
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of coinciding
"Coinciding" derives from the verb "coincide," which entered English in the early 17th century from Medieval Latin "coincidere," formed from Latin "co-" (together) and "incidere" (to fall upon or into), itself built on "cadere" (to fall). The same Latin root produced English words such as "incident," "accident," "incidence," and "cadence," all preserving the underlying idea of falling or happening. Over time, "coincide" developed its three modern senses of temporal simultaneity, spatial identity, and exact agreement, with "coinciding" serving as its progressive and participial form.
Related word forms
How coinciding is actually used
"Coinciding" carries a neutral register and appears frequently in formal writing, journalism, and academic prose, often followed by the preposition "with." It implies simultaneity or agreement without necessarily implying causation.
Easily confused with coinciding
"Coinciding" is the verb form describing the act of happening together, while "coincidence" is the noun referring to the chance occurrence itself.