Coalesce — A Vocabulary Story
The Great Raindrop Race
Anders was stuck in the back of the car on the longest, rainiest journey in the history of journeys. His granny lived approximately seven hundred hours away, according to his own careful calculations. Outside, raindrops kept landing on the window and coalescing into long, snaky streaks that slithered down the glass.
"I'm so bored my brain has gone flat," he announced.
"Race the raindrops," said his big sister, Astrid, without looking up from her book. "Pick one on the window. First drop to the bottom wins."
Anders pressed his nose to the glass and chose a small, brave-looking droplet. He named it Speedy Steve. Astrid picked a fat, lazy one she called The Blob.
Speedy Steve zigzagged down the window like a champion. Then something marvellous happened. Steve bumped into another droplet, and the two coalesced into one bigger, faster drop.
Coalesce means to come together and merge into a single unified whole.
"That's cheating!" gasped Astrid.
"That's teamwork," said Anders smugly.
Steve kept going, gobbling up tiny drops along the way. Each time the droplets coalesced, Steve grew plumper and speedier, streaking downwards like a runaway water balloon.
But then The Blob coalesced with an absolutely enormous drop near the top and came thundering down the glass.
"Go, Steve, GO!" Anders shouted, drumming on his knees.
The two mega-drops hurtled towards the bottom edge, closer, closer — and slid into each other at the very last second, coalescing into one gigantic super-drop.
"A draw," sighed Astrid.
"A tie-umph," said Anders.
Astrid groaned at the joke so loudly that Dad nearly missed the turning for Granny's house.
Word Definition
coalesce
meaning
to come together and merge into a single unified whole
synonyms
merge · unite · fuse · combine · consolidate
antonyms
separate · divide · disband
example sentence
The two small companies decided to coalesce into a single, more competitive firm.