Definition

1. Verb (intransitive):
   • To be consistent or coherent: Refers to ideas, arguments, or parts of a story forming a logical and unified whole.
   • To remain united or mutually supportive: Refers to people or groups staying loyal and supportive of each other, especially during difficult times.

Usage and Examples

• Verb:
  • For the plan to work, all the details must hang together perfectly. (This shows the need for logical consistency.)
  • The first chapter of her essay is interesting, but the overall argument doesn't hang together. (This indicates a lack of coherence.)
  • If we hang together, we can get through this crisis. (This demonstrates mutual support and unity.)

Advanced Usage

• "to make something hang together": to cause disparate elements to form a coherent whole.
  • The director's vision is what makes the complex film hang together.
• Often used in conditional statements or to express a desired or required state of unity or logic.

Variants and Related Words

• Cohere (verb): To be united, to form a whole. (More formal synonym for the "consistency" meaning.)
• Stick together (phrasal verb): To remain united or loyal to one another. (Close synonym for the "mutual support" meaning.)

Synonyms

• Be consistent: For the coherence meaning.
• Hold together: A very close synonym for both meanings.
• Stand united: For the mutual support meaning.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Hang on: To wait, or to hold tightly.
• Hang out: To spend time relaxing socially.
• Hang up: To end a phone call.

Related Idioms

• "Hang in there": An expression of encouragement to persist through difficulty.
  • I know it's tough, but just hang in there.
• "Hang by a thread": To be in a very precarious or dangerous situation.
  • After the scandal, his career was hanging by a thread.

Verb

1. be connected
   • In my heart I can make the world hang together