All 3 Uses of
coherent
in
Brave New World
- Pale, distraught, abject and agitated, he moved among his guests, stammering incoherent apologies, assuring them that next time the Savage would certainly be there, begging them to sit down and take a carotene sandwich, a slice of vitamin A pâté, a glass of champagne-surrogate.†
p. 175.1incoherent = not sensible or clear; or describing parts as not fitting together in a consistent or pleasing mannerstandard prefix: The prefix "in-" in incoherent means not and reverses the meaning of coherent. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.
- "At Malpais," the Savage was incoherently mumbling, "you had to bring her the skin of a mountain lion—I mean, when you wanted to marry some one.†
p. 190.3incoherently = not in a sensible and clear manner; or not in a manner where parts fit together consistently or pleasinglystandard prefix: The prefix "in-" in incoherently means not and reverses the meaning of coherently. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.
- Confused, "I'll do anything," he went on, more and more incoherently.†
p. 190.6 *
Definitions:
-
(1)
(coherent) sensible and clear; or describing parts as fitting together in a consistent or pleasing manner
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(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
A comprehensive dictionary will have more specialized definitions of coherent such as one used in physics.