incoherent Hear it!

incoherent Definition

in·co·her·ent (in′kō hir′ənt; also, -her′-)

adjective

not coherent; specif.,

  1. lacking cohesion; not sticking together
  2. not logically connected; disjointed; rambling
  3. characterized by incoherent speech, thought, etc.

incoherent Related Forms

in′·co·her′·ently adverb

incoherent Synonyms

incoherent

modif.

  1. Not hanging together

    loose, uneven, uncoordinated, inconsistent; see incongruous 1, irregular 1.

  2. Inarticulate

    disjointed, rambling, confused, muddled, unintelligible, broken, disconnected, disorganized, illogical, garbled, mumbling, stammering, maundering, speechless, uncommunicative, unclear, puzzling, indistinct, faltering, stuttering, muttered, mumbled, jumbled, gasping, breathless, tongue-tied, muffled, indistinguishable, incomprehensible; see also dumb 1, 2, obscure 1.

    Antonyms clear*, eloquent*, distinct.

incoherent Usage Examples

Adjective complement with noun phrase

  • render: The result is a confusion that renders the description incoherent.
  • make: Linguistics can tell us what makes the poem incoherent, how the " speaker " is multiple, but not who the speaker is.

Adjective modifier

European: This includes the four radars of the European Incoherent Scatter ( EISCAT ) Association.

Modifies a noun

  • rambling: Or were these the last incoherent ramblings of a madman?
  • ramble: Posted by: Alba Jun 26 2006, 10:00 AM What an incoherent ramble!
  • rant: Yet it also boasts articles that range far beyond the odd incoherent rant directed at the board.
  • scatter: The radars use incoherent scatter to measure the altitude profiles of all the main plasma parameters over the whole range of ionospheric altitudes.
  • scattering: Randomness in sea depth causes significant attenuation of waves by incoherent scattering, similar to the phenomenon of localization in physics.
  • radar: The next generation of incoherent scatter radars comprises some of the most advanced radar systems in the world.

Modifying Another Word

  • logically: Nor, equally, is it possible to show them to be false or logically incoherent.
  • somewhat: The environmental planning and decision-making system in Finland is somewhat incoherent and disjointed.
  • completely: To make matters worse, the final act is almost completely incoherent.
  • almost: By the third I received a long and almost incoherent letter of remorse, encouragement, consolation, and despair.
  • rather: His comments were strange and rather incoherent, in my opinion.
  • often: And tho the plot threads remain loose and often incoherent, half the fun of the show is trying to piece together the action.

Used with adjective complement

  • become: He became quite incoherent, tho the funny bits were clear, Instead of ten - Will had twelve commandments we should fear.
  • seem: Their arguments, however, seem incoherent of incomplete in a number of ways.
  • sound: It sounded so gloriously incoherent, and yet inspired, and I was head over heals in love.

Preposition: in

way: Any procedure that does not map onto probabilities is therefore incoherent in some way.

Preposition: with

rage: At this point I could become incoherent with rage and threaten to sue, of course.