adherence

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ədˈhɪə.ɹəns/ (UK); /ədˈhɪɹ.əns/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English adherence,^[2] borrowed from Old French adherence,^[3][4][5] or Anglo-Norman adherance,^[6] from Medieval Latin adhaerentia,^[3][5][7] from Latin adhaerēns (“adhering”), present participle of adhaerēre (“to stick to”),^[3][5][6] from ad (“to”) and haerēre (“to stick”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Attachment to a person or party; support (1450 in the Middle English Dictionary).^[2][8][3]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was political: in 1450 Parliament charged that the Duke of Suffolk's “adherence, counseill, and comfort” had helped the French.^[2] From steady attachment to a person or cause it widened to faithful observance of a rule, belief or practice.^[8][9] It was also used of physically sticking to something (1555 in the Historical Thesaurus, 1612 in the OED),^[8][9] though Etymonline notes that adhesion is the usual word for that.^[3] Johnson (1755) gave both the literal “tenacity” and the figurative “fixedness of mind”.^[10] In botany it meant the growing together of unlike parts,^[9][11] and in medicine it now means how far a patient keeps to an agreed treatment.^[12][1] In Scots law it is the duty of husband and wife to live together.^[13][1]

Timeline

• 1450 – attachment, support (MED).^[2]
• 1531 – a particular instance of adhering (obsolete).^[9][14]
• 1555 – physical adhesion (Historical Thesaurus).^[8]
• 1638 – persistence in a practice or belief.^[9]
• 1818 – botany, the joining of parts (Historical Thesaurus).^[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The act or quality of adhering; adhesion.
2. Faithful attachment or devotion to a person, party, principle or cause.
3. Strict observance of rules, a plan or a practice.
4. (medicine) The extent to which a patient continues an agreed treatment.
5. (Scots law) The duty of married people to live together.

Word family

• preadherence
• nonadherence

Related words

• adhere
• adhesion
• adhesive
• hesitate
• cohere
• inherent

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
8. ^ a b c d e Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
9. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2008), 11th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap
12. ^ Stedman's Medical Dictionary, Baltimore: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
13. ^ Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West
14. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster