coordinate

Pluralcoordinates

Formscoordinates, coordinating, coordinated

1. 1
   nouncountable

   In mathematics, a number that locates a point on a line, arc, or similar one-dimensional figure.

   The coordinate of the marker shows exactly how far it lies along the curved rail.

   On a number line, the coordinate of a point is its signed distance from zero.

   Note

   A mathematician's word that has passed into everyday speech, mostly in the plural. Strictly, one coordinate fixes a point along a single line or arc. A place on a map needs more than one, which is why a rescuer asks for "your coordinates" and an old map either includes a town's coordinates or does not. In mathematics the singular stays common: the coordinate of a point on a number line.

2. 2
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To synchronize separate activities so that they work together smoothly.

   The event planners worked hard to coordinate the catering, music, and seating.

   Relief agencies must coordinate their efforts to avoid duplicating aid.

   Similarorganize, synchronize, harmonize, orchestrate, integrate

   Note

   Works with or without an object. With one, it names what is being brought into step: coordinate movement of both legs, coordinate the catering and the music. Without one, the body or the task is understood. A beginner at tennis can simply find it "difficult to coordinate", meaning hard to get hand, eye and feet working together.

3. 3
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To match objects with one another, especially items of clothing, so they go well together.

   He carefully coordinated his tie with his shirt before the interview.

   Interior designers coordinate fabrics and paint to create a unified look.

   Similarmatch, harmonize, pair

   Oppositemismatch

   Note

   Fashion's version of the verb, where the clothes themselves can be the subject. An outfit that "doesn't coordinate" has pieces that fail to go together. The present participle also works as an adjective before a noun, as in Jo Ellison's "coordinating shoes" in the Financial Times (2017). The humorous plural noun names the matched pieces.

4. 4
   adjective

   Of the same rank, level, or importance; equal to another.

   The treaty placed both nations on coordinate footing within the alliance.

   Grammar treats the joined clauses as coordinate elements of equal weight.

   Similarequal, equivalent, parallel, coequal

   Oppositesubordinate

   Note

   Here is the root of the whole family: Medieval Latin coōrdinātus, "arranged together", from co- and ōrdinō, "arrange". Things that are coordinate share a single rank, so the adjective does not take degrees, and nothing is more coordinate than something else. Edmund Law's 1745 phrase "many co-ordinate powers" shows the older hyphenated spelling. The word still pairs naturally with plural nouns: coordinate terms, coordinate powers.

5. 5
   verbtransitive

   To place things in the same order or rank as one another.

   Lawmakers sought to coordinate the agencies as equal partners in the effort.

   The charter coordinates the member states, granting none of them authority over the rest.

   Oppositesubordinate

   Note

   The verb at its most literal: to make things equals, not to make them work together. Its opposite is subordinate. To coordinate is to set things side by side, and to subordinate is to set one beneath another. It takes a direct object, usually plural or joined by and. It is easily confused with the "synchronize" meaning, where the point is timing rather than rank.

6. 6
   nouncountable

   A thing that is equal to another, standing beside it rather than above or below it.

   In the founders' plan, the courts were no servant of Congress but its coordinate.

   The three regional directors are coordinates, and none of them can overrule the others.

   Similarequal, peer, counterpart, coequal

   Oppositesubordinate, superior

   Note

   The noun counterpart of the "equal rank" adjective, naming the equals themselves rather than describing them. John C. Calhoun used it in 1851 for the three branches of government: each equal to and independent of the others within its own powers. It suits that kind of constitutional argument, usually in the plural, and has nothing to do with the number that fixes a point.

7. 7
   nounhumorouscountableplural

   Matching items of clothing meant to be worn together as a set.

   The boutique displayed a rack of summer coordinates in soft pastel shades.

   Each coordinate in the collection pairs neatly with the others.

   Note

   Clothing talk borrows the noun, almost always in the plural: a rack of coordinates, summer coordinates in pastel shades. It carries a light, tongue-in-cheek tone rather than a technical one. It names the result of the verb of matching clothes: pieces chosen to be worn together.

Showing meanings only. Show all 7