adherence
/ədˈhɪɹ.əns/noun
adherence is spelled A-D-H-E-R-E-N-C-E. The wrong spelling people search most is adherance: about 300 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 10 of all searches for the word. Adherence is a noun meaning “A close physical union of two objects”. The plural of adherence is adherences.
How many letters and syllables are in adherence?
| Letters | 9: A-D-H-E-R-E-N-C-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.2 times per million words; the 18,537th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, adherance, about 300 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell adherence?
Adherence is spelled A-D-H-E-R-E-N-C-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for adherence in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is adherence?
Adherence appears 2.2 times per million words in written English, the 18,537th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce adherence?
- UK /ədˈhɪə.ɹəns/
- US /ədˈhɪɹ.əns/
Adherence has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-adherence.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with adherence?
2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as adherence from its last stressed vowel (/ɪɹəns/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of adherence
- adherences plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does adherence mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A close physical union of two objects.
- 2
Faithful support for some cause.
Strict adherence to the rules is required.
- 3
An extent to which a patient continues an agreed treatment plan.
- 4
The fulfilment of the legal obligation of residing with wife or husband.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Adherence in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Portuguese | aderência |
| Spanish | adherencia |
| French | adhésion , observance |
| German | Unterstützung |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does adherence come from?
From Middle French adhérence, from Latin adhærentia.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).