Synchronicity / noun / syn·​chro·​nic·​i·​ty

Synchronicity is an unexplained phenomenon where two or more events occur in close succession. The events are unrelated and yet have some common meaning. We use synchronicity as a noun to explain things that happen simultaneously and without clear connections. Some people describe synchronistic events as mystical, spiritual, or metaphysical.

In a Sentence

She understood synchronicity when she was thinking about calling a cab when a driver pulled up to the curb and asked if she needed a ride.

They believed in synchronicity when they received the answers to their prayers while still inside the church.

Nature shows us a million examples of synchronicity as seasons change and leaves fall when the weather turns colder, signaling the arrival of Fall.

Etymology

The term “synchronicity” was first coined in the early 1900s by Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl Jung. Some believe it first appeared in print in 1913 when Ouspensky used "synchronistic [meaning linked or correlated] coincidence" in his book, The Inevitable Consequence of Insight.

We started using synchronicity in English around 1889. It entered the language as a noun to describe events that seem to happen simultaneously without meaning.

Authors and mainstream psychology professionals like Carl Jung have used the term throughout history in novels and psychotherapy. We still use the term to describe events that happen at the same time without an obvious connection.

Synonym

Coincidence, Simultaneousness

Antonym

Asynchrony, Desynchronization