convergent

[ kuhn-vur-juhnt ]

adjective

1. characterized by convergence; tending to come together; merging.

convergent

/ kənˈvɜːdʒənt /

adjective

1. (of two or more lines, paths, etc) moving towards or meeting at some common point
2. (of forces, ideas, etc) tending towards the same result; merging
3. maths (of an infinite series) having a finite limit

Other Words From

• con·vergent·ly adverb
• noncon·vergent adjective
• uncon·vergent adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of convergent¹

First recorded in 1720–30, convergent is from the Late Latin word convergent- (stem of convergēns, present participle of convergere ). See converge, -ent

Example Sentences

This is the same process that occurs over tens of thousands, even millions of years in living creatures, from slugs to dogs to you and me, producing the incredible diversity we see in the tree of life along with startling replays of the same idea, known formally as convergent evolution.

From Salon

Convergent evolution is what we see when we observe that bats and birds have similar development of their arms into gliding wings, which initially allowed them to glide, and then to fly.

From Salon

Groh’s area of study is the evolution of crocodiles and their relatives from two hundred million years ago to now, looking for example at the convergent evolution of long, narrow snouts in various different branches of their family tree.

From Salon

McInerney was lead author on a study on convergent evolution in bacteria that helps us understand how this background might work, and to distinguish these two ways convergence may occur.

From Salon

He and his team used machine learning to look at the genomes of a whole bunch of different strains of Escherichia coli, a bacteria in which different strains repeatedly evolve in convergent ways, to see whether this occurs by chance or by a process of natural selection.

From Salon