When you make a cogent argument, it means your argument is clear and persuasive. In these days of 24-hour entertainment news and sound-bite sized explanations of complex government policy, it’s hard to find a cogent argument amidst all the emotional outbursts.
- Pronunciation: /'kodʒənt/
- English Description: intended or having the power to induce action or belief
- Chinese Translation: 使人信服的(shi3 ren2 xin4 fu2 de)
- Spanish Translation: convincente
- STORY: Cogent comes from a Latin word meaning to drive together, so cogent thinking is well-organized: it hangs together. If you try to convince your mayor to build a new park by saying that playgrounds are good, seeing the sky is nice, and raccoons are cool…well that’s not a cogent argument; it’s just random. But you could cogently argue that parks contribute to civic happiness by providing space for exercise, community, and encounters with nature.
EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
- To write a thoughtful, persuasive argument requires hard thinking and clear, cogent rhetoric.
- This lengthy sentence is a remarkably cogent expression of the theory of revolution that developed in early modern political thought.
*New word description, story and part of "EXAMPLE SENTENCE" are cited in Vocabulary.com