coincide

coincide — verb

1. When several events occur around the same moment, either by chance or through ar

1.verbintransitiveC2
Definition

When several events occur around the same moment, either by chance or through arrangement, they are said to coincide.

Example

The school's anniversary celebration coincided with the town's annual festival this year.

coincide with + event

Hana's trip to Kyoto happened to coincide with the autumn leaves season.

Common collocations
  • coincide with a holiday
  • coincide with a festival
  • happen to coincide
  • conveniently coincide
Synonyms
  • concur

    more formal; also means 'agree with', so less specific to timing

  • synchronize

    implies deliberate alignment of times, not chance

  • fall together

    informal; describes events happening at the same time by accident

Antonyms
  • diverge

    events move apart in time instead of aligning

Grammar Patterns

coincide with something

coincide with someone

Usage Note

Always used with the preposition 'with' before the other event or person. Never used transitively — you cannot 'coincide something'.

Common Mistakes

The party coincided at my birthday.
The party coincided with my birthday.
'coincide' always takes 'with', not 'at', 'on', or 'to'.

2. When ideas, facts, opinions, or qualities are the same or extremely similar, the

2.verbintransitiveC2
Definition

When ideas, facts, opinions, or qualities are the same or extremely similar, they coincide — for instance, two people's tastes in music coincide, or test results from different labs coincide.

Example

The test results from the two laboratories coincided, confirming the accuracy of both.

coincide with + results / findings

Leila's opinion on the new policy coincided closely with what the expert reported.

Common collocations
  • coincide closely with
  • coincide exactly with
  • broadly coincide
  • coincide with someone's views
Synonyms
  • correspond

    can be partial or structural match; slightly less exact than coincide

  • accord

    formal; stresses harmony or agreement rather than sameness

  • match

    informal; broader range including physical appearance

Antonyms
  • differ

    general opposite; not matching in nature or opinion

  • contradict

    stronger opposite; actively conflicts

Grammar Patterns

coincide with something

coincide with someone's opinion/view/interest

Usage Note

Subject is usually an abstract noun (opinion, view, result, finding, interest, taste). The word 'broadly' is commonly used before 'coincide' to mean 'mostly agree but not in every detail'.

Common Mistakes

His story coincides to what she told me.
His story coincides with what she told me.
'coincide' requires 'with', not 'to'.

3. When two or more things occupy exactly the same place or position — for example,

3.verbintransitive
Definition

When two or more things occupy exactly the same place or position — for example, a point on a map that falls directly on a boundary, or two shapes that sit on top of each other.

Example

In the diagram, the centre of the circle coincides with the origin of the graph.

formal: coincide with + geometric point

The border between the two countries coincides with the mountain range for three hundred kilometres.

Common collocations
  • coincide precisely with
  • coincide exactly with
  • coincide with a boundary
Synonyms
  • overlap

    less exact; implies partial coverage, not identical position

  • converge

    suggests moving toward a shared point, not being already at it

Antonyms
  • diverge

    move apart or spread away from a shared point

Grammar Patterns

coincide with something

Usage Note

Restricted to formal writing — geography, geometry, mathematics, and technical descriptions. Not used in everyday conversation for physical objects (a chair cannot 'coincide with' a table in casual speech).

Common Mistakes

The two roads coincide each other at the junction.
The two roads coincide with each other at the junction.
'coincide' is intransitive and needs 'with', even when a reflexive pronoun follows.

Word family

  • coincidence
    nounB2
  • coincident
    adjectiveC1
  • coincidental
    adjectiveC1
  • coincidentally
    adverbC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

Coincide, concur, synchronize, and correspond all describe things that align, but they differ in how and why. Coincide is the most neutral and flexible: two events can coincide by accident ('My trip coincided with the festival') or by arrangement ('The meeting was timed to coincide with her visit'). Concur is more formal and implies simultaneous action or intellectual agreement ('The judges concurred on the verdict'), but it rarely refers to calendar timing. Synchronize always involves deliberate coordination — you synchronize watches or schedules ('The dancers synchronized their steps to the music'). Correspond focuses on matching across categories rather than time: a serial number corresponds to a product, or an idea corresponds to a theory. Use coincide when the focus is on events sharing a moment; use concur when people share an opinion; use synchronize when someone makes two things match; and use correspond when the match is structural rather than temporal.

coincide ↗concursynchronizecorrespond ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • dates
  • times
  • schedules
  • opinions
  • views
  • interests
  • findings
  • results
  • boundaries
  • borders
  • lines

Adverbs

Phrases

  • happen to coincide
  • coincide by chance
  • coincide in time

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Coincide came into English in the early 1600s from French 'coincider', which came from Latin 'coincidere' — a combination of 'co-' (together) and 'incidere' (to fall upon), which itself broke into 'in-' (upon) and 'cadere' (to fall). So the literal image is of things 'falling together' at the same point.