Cogent

//ˈkoʊd͡ʒn̩t// adj

adj ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Reasonable and convincing; based on evidence.

    "We congratulate our correspondents on some very cogent reasoning, and shall have to watch our step even more carefully in future!"

  2. 2
    Appealing to the intellect or powers of reasoning.
  3. 3
    Forcefully persuasive; relevant, pertinent.

    "The prosecution presented a cogent argument, convincing the jury of the defendant's guilt."

Adjective
  1. 1
    powerfully persuasive wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
persuasiveacuteadmissibleadvantageousapperceptiveappercipient

Example

More examples

"His speech was a properly constructed and cogent argument, which – at least in my experience – feels like a complete rarity."

Etymology

From French cogent, from Latin cōgēns, present active participle of cōgō (“drive together, compel”), from cō + agō (“drive”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.