hang together

To fit together well as parts of a whole.

• The details hang together well.
• All the elements of her design hung together beautifully.
• Do these different ideas really hang together?

Similar words: fit together, cohere

Common phrases: details hang together, ideas hang together

To stay united and support one another.

• We must hang together.
• The family hung together when times were hard.
• Will the team hang together after this defeat?

How to use it: hang together through something (The family hung together through the crisis.)

Similar words: stick together, stand together

Opposites: split up

Common phrases: hang together as something, hang together through something

To make sense because all the parts agree with one another.

• His story does not hang together.
• Her explanation hung together once we saw the evidence.
• Does the witness’s account really hang together?

Similar words: make sense, be coherent, hold together

Common phrases: story hang together, explanation hang together

To be connected or depend on one another.

• These issues hang together.
• The different parts of the system hang together closely.
• We discovered how the events hung together.

Similar words: be connected, be linked

Common phrases: issues hang together, parts hang together

To stay united while refusing to give in to someone’s demands or power.

• The workers hung together during the strike.
• We must hang together against these unfair demands.
• They hung together despite repeated threats from the authorities.

How to use it: hang together against someone/something (The villagers hung together against the landlord.)

Similar words: stand together, unite, stand firm

Opposites: divide

Common phrases: hang together against something, workers hang together

To be a couple in a romantic relationship.

• Those two hang together as a couple.
• They hung together for years before they married.
• Do they still hang together, or have they separated?

Similar words: be together, date

Common phrases: hang together romantically, still hang together