The Word of the Day podcast for August 28th.
Today's word is cogent, spelled C-O-G-E-N-T.
Cogent is an adjective.
It's a formal word that describes something that is very clear and easy for the mind to accept and believe.
It is used as a synonym of the word convincing.
Here's the word used in a sentence from the LA Times.
The history of art reads here as one long, free-verse poem in progress, gorgeous and absorbing.
Even so, many of the most memorable moments come in the form of cogent micro-essays,
smartly curated ensembles of work bearing a legible lucid premise.
A cogent argument is one that really drives its point home because it is clear, coherent,
and readily understandable, and perhaps also because of the etymological history of the word cogent.
Cogent comes from the Latin verb cogerae, meaning to drive or force together.
Something described as cogent fuses thoughts and ideas into a meaningful whole that others can readily grasp and accept.
A cogent explanation is a convincing one, and cogent analysis has us nodding along because it is clear and pertinent.
Cogere was formed in Latin by combining the prefix co with the verb agere, meaning to drive, lead,
or act, a root which is also the source of our familiar noun agent.
Handily enough, one definition of agent is a means or instrument by which a guiding intelligence achieves a result.
It follows logically then that cogency is often a worthwhile agent indeed.
With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski.
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