convergent

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin convergēns, the present participle of convergō (“to incline together”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} a verb used by Isidore.^[2] Merriam-Webster calls the participle Medieval Latin,^[7] and Etymonline instead forms the word from converge and -ent.^[8] The verb is formed from Latin con- (“together”) and vergō (“to bend, turn, incline”),^[2][8] from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to turn, bend”).^[8] The French form is the same.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Inclining toward each other or toward a common point; tending to meet in a point or focus: 1728, in Chambers's Cyclopædia.^[2] Etymonline dates it to 1730, Dictionary.com to 1720–30,^[8][5] and Merriam-Webster to about 1751.^[7]

Semantic evolution

In mathematics a convergent series, one with a finite limit, is recorded from 1816, and convergent as a noun, a convergent fraction, from 1858.^[2][3] It was used of figures formed by converging lines from 1831, in D. Brewster's Treatise on Optics, and of immaterial things from 1862.^[2] In biology Darwin used it in 1871 for features of similar structure but different origin,^[2] and Etymonline finds convergent evolution among biologists by 1890, after the biological sense of convergence in 1866.^[8] In psychology J. P. Guilford described convergent thinking in 1956, thinking that tends toward a single answer, as opposed to divergent thinking.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1728 – tending to meet in a point.^[2]
• 1816 – in mathematics, of a series.^[2]
• 1831 – formed by converging lines.^[2]
• 1858 – noun, a convergent fraction.^[2]
• 1862 – of things immaterial.^[2]
• 1871 – in biology, of similar structure but different origin, in Darwin's Descent of Man.^[2]
• 1882 – in botany, of leaves with converging veins.^[2]
• 1956 – in psychology, of thinking that tends toward one answer.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Moving toward or meeting at a common point; converging: convergent paths.^[9][7][2]
2. Of ideas, forces or efforts, tending toward the same result; coming together.^[9][7][2]
3. (biology) Showing convergence: of similar form or function in organisms of different origin, as in convergent evolution.^[7][3][2]
4. (mathematics) Of an infinite series, a sequence or an improper integral, having a finite limit.^[9][7][3]
5. (psychology) Of thinking, tending toward a single correct answer; opposed to divergent.^[2][3]

Noun

1. (mathematics) A convergent fraction.^[2]

Word family

• convergently
• nonconvergent
• convergent evolution
• convergent sequence

Related words

• convergence
• converge
• diverge
• divergent

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins