Connascence
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The birth of two or more things at the same time; A simultaneous coming into being. obsolete, uncountable
"In Mrs Craigie I take always an especial interest. She, and dramatist, and I, as dramatic critic, saw the light simultaneously; and our connascence has insired me with a sentimental wish that she should do great things."
- 2 The state of being born into the same family, race, or group; a commonality of heritage or birthright. uncountable
"No: had not Esther been involved in the edict against the Jews, by her connascence and her religious profession, Mordecai might have pleaded in vain for her perilous interference."
- 3 The act of growing or developing together. obsolete, uncountable
"By turns, and occasionally as it were by spontaneous connascence, were reflected on her speaking countenance, as on the clear and smooth surface of a bright mirror, the quick intelligence of a clever woman and the touching simplicity of an unsophisticated child, the vigorous energy of a heroine and the fascinating playfulness of a little fairy, the depth of mind that can penetrate and analyse everything and the inquisitiveness of heart to which all sensations are novel and interesting."
- 4 A relationship between two or more elements of software in which changing one necessitates changing the others in order to maintain overall correctness; a metric for such a relationship. uncountable
"The construct of inheritance–although wildly popular in most object-oriented shops—may sometimes introduce raging connascence."
Example
More examples"In Mrs Craigie I take always an especial interest. She, and dramatist, and I, as dramatic critic, saw the light simultaneously; and our connascence has insired me with a sentimental wish that she should do great things."
Etymology
From con- + nascence. In the software engineering sense introduced by Meilir Page-Jones.
More for "connascence"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.