coincidencenoun
uk/kəʊˈɪn.sɪ.dəns/us/koʊˈɪn.sɪ.dəns/coincidence noun (SAME TIME)
B2 [ C ] an occasion when two or more similar things happen at the same time, especially in a way that is unlikely and surprising:
You chose exactly the same wallpaper as us - what a coincidence!
Is it just a coincidence that the wife of the man who ran the competition won first prize?
a series of strange/amazing coincidences
More examples
- We hadn't planned to be in France at the same time as Ann and Charles - it was just a happy coincidence.
- Meeting you here in Rome is a remarkable coincidence.
- By some extraordinary coincidence, I sat down right opposite your mother in the train.
- Do you think it was just a coincidence that she chose her own granddaughter's picture for first prize?
- There were a whole series of spooky coincidences - for example we both married men with the same name and on the same day.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Events and occurrences
- -athon
- a close call idiom
- a close/near thing idiom
- action
- all-nighter
- back story
- be (all) part of life's rich tapestry/pageant idiom
- call
- development
- event
- happening
- incident
- jamboree
- life event
- milestone
- past
- spectacle
- synchronicity
- to-ing and fro-ing
- turn of events
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coincidence noun (CHANCE)
B2 [ U ] chance or luck:
Just by coincidence, I met my old schoolmate again 50 years later.
[ + that ] It was pure/sheer coincidence that I remembered his phone number.
By some strange coincidence, he was passing the house just when it happened.
More examples
- We hadn't planned to be in France at the same time as Ann and Charles - it was just a happy coincidence.
- Meeting you here in Rome is a remarkable coincidence.
- By some extraordinary coincidence, I sat down right opposite your mother in the train.
- Do you think it was just a coincidence that she chose her own granddaughter's picture for first prize?
- There were a whole series of spooky coincidences - for example we both married men with the same name and on the same day.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Chance and randomness
- accident
- arbitrary
- as luck would have it idiom
- be the luck of the draw idiom
- casual
- circumstance
- haphazard
- happen
- happenstance
- harum-scarum
- hit-and-miss
- lottery
- more by accident than design idiom
- more by luck than judgment idiom
- one in a million idiom
- postcode lottery
- pot luck
- serendipity
- stochastic
- stumble into sth
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