cohesiveness /kōhē″sivnəs/ [L, cohaerere, to cling together] , 1. (in psychiatry) a force that attracts members to a group and causes them to remain in it. 2. (in dentistry) a property of annealed pure gold that allows it to fuse together under pressure and to closely adapt to the walls of a tooth preparation, making possible the use of 24–carat gold sheets or pellets as dental restorative material in single-tooth restorations. 3. (in biochemistry) the property of the forces of attraction within an object that holds it together as compared to adhesion which is the forces of attraction existing between two different objects or surfaces that hold them together.
