Word of the Day

Saturday, February 25, 2006

cogent

\KOH-juhnt\ , adjective;

Having the power to compel conviction; appealing to the mind or to reason; convincing.

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Quotes:

One woman, Adrian Pomerantz, was so intelligent that the professors always lit up when Adrian spoke; her eloquent, cogent analyses forced them not to be lazy, not to repeat themselves.

-- Meg Wolitzer, Surrender, Dorothy

I suggested to the student that she take her refusal as the theme of her term paper and ponder it as carefully as possible. A few weeks later she submitted one of the most cogent, intelligent papers I have read.

-- Denis Donoghue, The Practice of Reading

Origin:

Cogent derives from Latin cogere, "to drive together, to force," from co-, "with, together" + agere, "to drive."