Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Flowing together; blended into one.
  • adjective Merging or running together so as to form a mass, as sores in a rash.
  • noun One of two or more confluent streams.
  • noun A tributary.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Flowing together; meeting in their course, as two streams.
  • In anatomy, having grown or become blended together, as two bones which were originally separate.
  • In botany and zoology, blended into one: us, confluent leaves.
  • In pathol: Running together: as, confluent pustules.
  • Characterized by confluent pustules: as, confluent smallpox.
  • Rich; affluent.
  • noun A tributary stream: as, the Mohawk is a confluent of the Hudson.
  • noun A joining or confluence, as of two streams.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Flowing together; meeting in their course; running one into another; flowing together to form a single stream.
  • adjective (Bot.) Blended into one; growing together, so as to obliterate all distinction.
  • adjective Running together or uniting, as pimples or pustules.
  • adjective Characterized by having the pustules, etc., run together or unite, so as to cover the surface.
  • noun A small steam which flows into a large one.
  • noun obsolete The place of meeting of steams, currents, etc.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Converging, merging into continuous shape (of two or more objects).
  • adjective meteorology (Of wind) which converges, especially when viewed on a weather chart
  • adjective biology Describing cells in a culture that merge to form a mass
  • adjective geometry (Of a triangle) which is exactly the same size as another triangle.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a branch that flows into the main stream
  • adjective flowing together

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Latin cōnfluēns, cōnfluent-, present participle of cōnfluere, to flow together : com-, com- + fluere, to flow; see bhleu- in Indo-European roots.]

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Examples

  • I ought to have sent to warn the police and the health officers of the city, for I was sure that the man was suffering from what is commonly called confluent smallpox.

    Doctor Therne Henry Rider Haggard 1890

  • The Toleure, a tributary of the Aubonne, frequently large enough to be called a confluent, flows out from the foot of a wall of rock composed of regular parallelopipeds, and in the spring, when the snows are melting freely, its sources burst out at various levels of the rock.

    Ice-Caves of France and Switzerland 1881

  • In my former cases the pustule produced by the insertion of the virus was more like one of those which are so thickly spread over the body in a bad kind of confluent smallpox.

    On Vaccination Against Smallpox 2005

  • In my former cases the pustule produced by the insertion of the virus was more like one of those which are so thickly spread over the body in a bad kind of confluent smallpox.

    On Vaccination Against Smallpox 2005

  • In my former cases the pustule produced by the insertion of the virus was more like one of those which are so thickly spread over the body in a bad kind of confluent smallpox.

    The Harvard Classics Volume 38 Scientific Papers (Physiology, Medicine, Surgery, Geology) Various

  • 'confluent' at the moment at which our imperfect knowing might pass into knowing of a completed type.

    Meaning of Truth William James 1876

  • If one invests personally in a cause one has long championed, does it not make one's interests more confluent?

    David Katz, M.D.: Health Promotion: Practice What You Preach M.D. David Katz 2011

  • In a covenant of above and below, may we be confluent with each changing tide; our partnership both the anchor and the flowfor all the days of our lives.

    Poems for a wedding 2011

  • "That upper level confluent zone is important for keeping cold air in for us," he said, adding, "It's not a textbook confluent zone, but it's an added factor that's helping to keep the colder air in."

    At weather expo, top snow expert shares views Andrew Freedman 2011

  • If one invests personally in a cause one has long championed, does it not make one's interests more confluent?

    David Katz, M.D.: Health Promotion: Practice What You Preach M.D. David Katz 2011

Comments

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  • A confluent smallpox had in all directions flowed over his face...

    - Melville, Moby-Dick, ch. 19

    July 24, 2008