# confluence
## English
### Alternative forms

* (biology): confluency

### Etymology

From late Middle English confluence, from Late Latin cōnfluentia (“a flowing together, conflux”), from cōnfluēns (present participle of cōnfluō (“to flow or run together”)) +‎ -ia (nominal suffix).

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈkɒn.flu.əns/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (General American) IPA: /ˈkɑnˌflu.əns/, /kənˈflu.əns/
* Rhymes: -ɒnfluəns, -uːəns

### Noun

confluence (plural confluences)
* The act of combining that occurs where two rivers meet.
    The confluence of the rivers produced a great rush of water.
** The place where two rivers, streams, or other continuously flowing bodies of water meet and become one, especially where a tributary joins a river.
    Synonym: watersmeet
    Antonyms: fork, branch
    We encountered an abandoned boat at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.
** The stream or body formed by the junction of two or more streams; a combined flood.
* A convergence or combination of forces, people, or things.
    Synonym: coinfluence
    Hyponym: confluence of sinuses
    The confluence of our skills resulted in a successful home renovation project.
    The political turmoil was the result of a confluence of factors, and the corollary of years of misrule, as evidenced by a low home ownership rate incommensurate with the economic growth.
* (biology) The proportion of cells, in a culture medium, that adhere to each other.
* (computer science, in rewriting systems) A property describing which terms can be rewritten with other, equivalent terms.

#### Synonyms

* conflux

#### Derived terms

* hyperconfluence
* nonconfluence
* overconfluence
* postconfluence
* preconfluence
* subconfluence

#### Related terms

* affluence
* confluent
* confluently
* effluence
* influence
* refluence

#### Translations
### Verb

confluence (third-person singular simple present confluences, present participle confluencing, simple past and past participle confluenced)
* (intransitive, transitive) To join together into one stream.
** 1996 December, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, US Route 220 Transportation Improvements Project, Bald Eagle Village to I-80, Blair County, Centre County: Environmental Impact Statement, volume 3, page 41:CHN 082 flows for approximately 304.8 meters (1,000 feet) before confluencing with the North Bald Eagle Creek.
** 2025 February 4, Grady Hilhouse, “What’s Inside a Manhole?” (5:59 from the start), in Practical Engineering‎:I added a third manhole to my model so you can see how a junction might look. It just provides a nice way to confluence two streams into one pipe, which is an important job in a sewer system since a sewershed all has to flow to one place.

### References

* “confluence”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
* “confluence”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

## French
### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Noun

confluence f (plural confluences)
* confluence

### Further reading

* “confluence”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.