coordinate

noun · verb · adjective

Simple meaning

To organize people or things so they work well together.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

kohawrduhnuht

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US device voice

IPA pronunciation (US)

koʊˈɔɹdənət

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

A number that identifies a position relative to an axis
mathematicscartographyastronomygeography
A number representing the position of a point along a line, arc, or similar one-dimensional figure.
Something that is equal to another thing.
humorousin the plural
Coordinated clothes.

verb

ambitransitive
To synchronize (activities).
ambitransitive
To match (objects, especially clothes).
transitive
To place in the same order or rank.

adjective

Of the same rank; equal.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty: B1 · Intermediate
Frequency: Common
Typical Use: Varies by meaning

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A number that identifies a position relative to an axis

Used this way, coordinate is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone: Neutral
Formality: Neutral
Intensity: Not strongly marked
How common: Moderately common
Connotation: Matter-of-fact
Usage feel: Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use coordinate

“Coordinate the painters, masons, and plumbers.”verb

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

coordinate systemcartesian coordinatepolar coordinatecoordinate planecoordinate transformationreaction coordinatecoordinate framelocal coordinate

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

coordinatingadjectiveInflected form
Serving to connect two grammatical constituents of identical construction.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

coordinatornounPerson or profession
Someone whose task is to see that work goes harmoniously.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

coordinated universal timenounCompound term
Greenwich Mean Time updated with leap seconds.
coordinating conjunctionnounCompound term
The coordination by conjunction of linguistic units of the same status.
coordinate bondnounCompound term
A covalent bond in which both electrons are provided by one of the atoms.
coordinate clausenounCompound term
A clause in a complex sentence that is grammatically equivalent to the main clause and that performs the same grammatical function.
coordinate axisnounCompound term
One of the fixed reference lines of a coordinate system.
coordinate geometrynounCompound term
The use of algebra to study geometric properties.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

coordination compoundnounRelated term
A compound described in terms of the central atom to which other atoms are bound or coordinated.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.