Coalesce

hard

koh-uh-LES

verb

Definition

to come together to form one unified whole

Examples

The scattered protest groups gradually coalesced into a single political movement.
Over millions of years, dust and gas coalesced into the planets we see today.

Synonyms

mergeunitefuseconsolidate

Antonyms

disperseseparatefragmentscatter

Categories

GRE Tip

Coalesce is a hard-difficulty GRE word. On the GRE, you might see it paired with synonyms like "merge" or "unite" in Sentence Equivalence questions. Look for contrast clues (however, despite, although) that signal the opposite meaning. Words like "disperse".

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