coordinate

Etymology

The adjective was formed in the 17th century from English co- + ordinate, as a counterpart to the older subordinate.^[2][3][4] The OED analyses it as Latin co- with Latin ōrdinātus (“ordered, arranged”), the past participle of ōrdinō (“to set in order”),^[5][6] which comes from ōrdō (“row, rank, order”).^[7][8] Etymonline and Weekley derive it instead from Medieval Latin coōrdinō (“to arrange together”),^[7][9] but the OED, while noting that verb, judges that the English word was probably formed independently.^[5] The verb (1665) was made from the adjective or on the same pattern, after subordinate.^[2][3] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster also consider a back-formation from the earlier noun coordination (1605).^[2][10][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of the same order; equal in rank, degree or importance, the opposite of subordinate: 1641, in Robert Greville's Discourse of the Nature of Episcopacie.^[5][10]

Semantic evolution

The first senses, for adjective and verb alike, were about rank: things coordinate stood on the same level, and to coordinate them was to class them together.^[8][4][5] Johnson (1755) still defined the adjective only as holding the same rank, not subordinate.^[11] The idea of acting together appears in the adjective in 1769, in William Robertson's history of Charles V, and in the verb only in the 19th century: to arrange parts in their proper relation to one another (1837, in Whewell) and, intransitively, to work together towards a result (1863).^[5][7] The mathematical noun, one of the magnitudes that fix the position of a point, is recorded from 1823 and refers especially to the system of Descartes;^[5][7] Merriam-Webster dates it to 1806.^[10] By 1960 coordinates were used of positions on the earth's surface, and since 1959 the plural has also named matching sets of women's clothes.^[7][5] Chemistry gave the verb (1923) and the adjective (coordinate bond, 1927) further technical senses.^[5]

Timeline

• 1605 – the noun coordination, in Francis Bacon.^[2]
• 1641 – adjective, of equal rank.^[5][10][2]
• 1665 – verb, to place in the same rank or class.^[5][10]
• 1769 – adjective, involving coordination.^[5][7]
• 1823 – noun, in mathematics, a magnitude fixing the position of a point.^[5][7] Merriam-Webster dates it to 1806.^[5][7][10]
• 1837 – verb, to bring parts into proper relation with one another.^[5]
• a1850 – noun, a person or thing of equal rank.^[5]
• 1863 – verb, intransitive, to work together.^[5][7]
• 1927 – coordinate bond in chemistry.^[5]
• 1959 – coordinates, matching items of women's clothing.^[5]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To organize different people, groups or activities so that they work together effectively: She coordinated the relief effort across three districts.
2. To work or act together in a harmonious way.
3. To match or go well together, as of colours or items of clothing.
4. To place in the same order, class or rank.
5. (chemistry) To form a coordinate bond with an atom or group.

Adjective

1. Equal in rank, quality or importance; not subordinate.
2. (grammar) Of clauses: of equal rank in a compound sentence, joined by a coordinating conjunction.
3. Involving coordination; made up of parts properly combined.
4. (chemistry) Of a covalent bond: formed when one atom supplies both of the shared electrons.

Noun

1. (mathematics) Any of a set of numbers that fix the position of a point on a line, in a plane or in space.
2. coordinates: the position of a place given by latitude and longitude or a similar system.
3. A person or thing of the same rank as another.
4. coordinates: matching garments designed to be worn together.

Word family

• coordinately
• coordinative
• coordinator
• coordinateness
• incoordinate
• miscoordinate
• coordination
• coordinate system

Related words

• order
• ordinate
• subordinate
• inordinate
• ordain
• ordinary

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.