Definition of consilience - Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

Word of the Day

consilience (n)
consilient (adj)

The combining of different branches of knowledge into a comprehensive theory

"Mandle is interested in design that integrates left and right brain activity, incorporates art and engineering, brings aesthetics and function together, like Leonardo da Vinci -- perhaps the world's most consilient artist and designer ever -- drew."
--Ethan Zuckerman, My Heart's in Accra

The definition sounds very much like that great buzz word of the 90s: synergy. Or maybe just "synthesis." I don't think I'll use the word consilience much, if at all. I don't quite trust a word that contains both "con" and (what sounds like) "silly."