(1) Someone who follows a leader, a party, or a profession. (2) One who believes in a particular philosophy or religion.

Just as tape *adheres* to paper, a person may adhere to a cause, a faith, or a belief. Thus, you may be an adherent of Hinduism, an adherent of environmentalism, or an adherent of the Republican Party. A plan for cutting taxes always attracts adherents easily, regardless of what the cuts may result in.

To hold together firmly as parts of the same mass.

When you finish writing a paper, you may feel that it coheres well, since it's sharply focused and all the ideas seem to support each other. When all the soldiers in an army platoon feel like buddies, the platoon has become a *cohesive* unit. In science class you may learn the difference between *cohesion* (the tendency of a chemical's molecules to stick together) and *adhesion* (the tendency of the molecules of two different substances to stick together). Water molecules tend to cohere, so water falls from the sky in drops, not as separate molecules. But water molecules also *adhere* to molecules of other substances, so raindrops will often cling to the underside of a clothesline for a while before gravity pulls them down.

(1) Unclear or difficult to understand. (2) Loosely organized or inconsistent.

*Incoherent* is the opposite of *coherent,* and both commonly refer to words and thoughts. Just as *coherent* means well ordered and clear, *incoherent* means disordered and hard to follow. *Incoherence* in speech may result from emotional stress, especially anxiety or anger. Incoherence in writing may simply result from poor planning; a twelve-page term paper that isn't written until the night before it's due will generally suffer from incoherence.

Part of something by nature or habit.

*Inherent* literally refers to something that is “stuck in” something else so firmly that they can't be separated. A plan may have an inherent flaw that will cause it to fail; a person may have inherent virtues that everyone admires. Since the flaw and the virtues can't be removed, the plan may simply have to be thrown out and the person will remain virtuous forever.

Moving outward from a center or central focus.

Centrifugal force is what keeps a string with a ball on the end taut when you whirl it around. A *centrifuge* is a machine that uses centrifugal force. At the end of a washing machine's cycle, it becomes a weak and simple centrifuge as it whirls the water out of your clothes. Centrifuges hundreds of thousands of times as powerful are essential to nuclear technology and drug manufacturing. Part of an astronaut's training occurs in a centrifuge that generates force equal to several times the force of gravity (about like a washing machine) to get them used to the forces they'll encounter in a real space mission.

Shelter or protection from danger or distress, or a place that provides shelter or protection.

The *re-* in *refuge* means basically “back” or “backward” rather than “again” (see RE-); thus, a *refugee* is someone who is “fleeing backward.” *Refuge* tends to appear with certain other words: you generally “seek refuge,” “take refuge,” or “find refuge.” Religion may be a refuge from the woes of your life; a beautiful park may be a refuge from the noise of the city; and your bedroom may be a refuge from the madness of your family.

Bach and Handel composed many fugues for harpsichord and organ in which the various parts (or voices) seem to flee from and chase each other in an intricate dance. Each part, after it has stated the theme or melody, apparently flees from the next part, which takes up the same theme and sets off in pursuit. Simple rounds such as “Three Blind Mice” or “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” could be called fugues for children, but a true fugue can be long and extremely complex.

(1) A trick designed to help conceal, escape, or evade. (2) A deceptive trick.

With its “flee” root, the Latin verb *subterfugere* meant “to escape or avoid.” Thus, a subterfuge is a way of escaping blame, embarrassment, inconvenience—or even prison—by tricky means. The life of spies consists of an endless series of subterfuges. In the more everyday world, putting words like “heart-healthy” on junk-food packaging is a subterfuge to trick unwary shoppers. And getting a friend to call about an “emergency” in order to get out of an evening engagement is about the oldest subterfuge in the book.