Word of the Day : July 20, 2019

cogent \KOH-junt\ adjective

Definition

1 a : appealing forcibly to the mind or reason : convincing

b : pertinent, relevant

2 : having power to compel or constrain

Did You Know?

"Trained, knowledgeable agents make cogent suggestions ... that make sense to customers." It makes sense for us to include that comment from the president of a direct marketing consulting company because it provides such a nice opportunity to point out the etymological relationship between the words cogent and agent. Agent derives from the Latin verb agere, which means "to drive," "to lead," or "to act." Adding the prefix co- to agere gave Latin cogere, a word that literally means "to drive together"; that ancient term ultimately gave English cogent. Something that is cogent figuratively pulls together thoughts and ideas, and the cogency of an argument depends on the driving intellectual force behind it.

Aired July 20, 2019

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