cogent

English

WOTD – 2 May 2010

Etymology

From French cogent, from Latin cōgēns, present active participle of cōgō (“drive together, compel”), from cō + agō (“drive”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkəʊd͡ʒn̩t/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkoʊd͡ʒn̩t/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (Australia):

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Adjective

cogent (comparative more cogent, superlative most cogent)

1. Reasonable and convincing; based on evidence.
   • 1944 May and June, “In the Critics' Den”, in Railway Magazine, page 132:

     We congratulate our correspondents on some very cogent reasoning, and shall have to watch our step even more carefully in future!

   • 2011 September 21, Barbara C. Scholz, Francis Jeffry Pelletier, Geoffrey K. Pullum, Ryan Nefdt, “Philosophy of Linguistics”, in Edward N. Zalta, Uri Nodelman, editors, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy‎^[1], Stanford University, →ISSN, retrieved 18 June 2025:

     Clearly, the mere fact that some Emergentists may in practice have made use of invented examples in testing their theories does not tell against any cogent general objections they may have offered to such practice. What is needed is a decision on the methodological point, not just a cry of “You did it too!”.

2. Appealing to the intellect or powers of reasoning.
3. Forcefully persuasive; relevant, pertinent.

   The prosecution presented a cogent argument, convincing the jury of the defendant's guilt.

Synonyms

• compelling
• conclusive
• convincing
• indisputable

Antonyms

• debatable
• irrelevant
• uncogent

Derived terms

• cogency
• cogently
• incogent
• uncogent

Related terms

• cache
• coagulate
• squat

Translations

reasonable and convincing; based on evidence — see also convincing,‎ persuasive

• Breton: gonidus, gounidus, kendrec'hus
• Bulgarian: състоятелен (bg) (săstojatelen), достоверен (bg) (dostoveren)
• Czech: přesvědčivý (cs)
• Danish: overbevisende
• Dutch: overtuigend (nl), steekhoudend (nl)
• Finnish: järkevä (fi), järkiperäinen (fi)
• French: convaincant (fr), persuasif (fr), cohérent (fr)
• Galician: convincente (gl)
• German: überzeugend (de), zwingend (de)
• Italian: convincente (it), persuasivo (it), coherente, coerente (it)
• Norman: cogent, conveincant, creyable
• Portuguese: convincente (pt)
• Russian: убедительный (ru) (ubeditelʹnyj), достове́рный (ru) (dostovérnyj), обосно́ванный (ru) (obosnóvannyj), состоя́тельный (ru) (sostojátelʹnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: uverljiv (sh), uvjerljiv (sh), ubedljiv (sh), ubjedljiv
• Spanish: contundente (es)
• Swedish: övertygande (sv), bindande (sv) (law)
• Turkish: inandırıcı (tr), mantıklı (tr)

appealing to the intellect or powers of reasoning — see also intelligible,‎ logical

• Danish: overbevisende
• Dutch: overtuigend (nl)
• Finnish: järkevä (fi)
• French: intelligible (fr), logique (fr)
• German: überzeugend (de)
• Italian: intelligibile (it), logico (it)
• Portuguese: coerente (pt)
• Swedish: övertygande (sv)

forcefully persuasive — see also irrefutable

• Bulgarian: убедителен (bg) (ubeditelen)
• Czech: pádný, přesvědčivý (cs)
• Danish: overbevisende, slagkraftig
• Dutch: overtuigend (nl)
• Finnish: vakuuttava (fi)
• French: irréfutable (fr)
• German: überzeugend (de), schlagend (de), stichhaltig (de)
• Italian: irrefutabile (it), inconfutabile (it)
• Portuguese: cogente (pt)
• Russian: убедительный (ru) (ubeditelʹnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: làidir
• Spanish: irrebatible (es)
• Swedish: slagkraftig (sv), övertygande (sv)
• Turkish: ikna edici

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} meyakinkan (id), ^{(please verify)} telak (id)

Latin

Verb

cōgent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of cōgō