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I'm looking for a single word that means making two (or more) seemingly opposite or contradictory words/ideas/concepts agree with each other. Or at least work together.

I'm 90% the word starts with a C, but I can't think of it. It's a very formal sounding word that one might expect to see in the title of thesis or something.

An example would be, "On the ____ of idea x and idea y".

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  • Arbitrate, mediate, conciliate, reconcile, referee, compromise, harmonize, accommodate.
    – Hot Licks
    Sep 5, 2017 at 23:05
  • maybe you are thinking of "On the contrary ..." This is an upper class, neutral way of beginning a sentence indicating disagreement. It doesn't make opposites agree, but it is (normally) polite, as it aims to intellectualize (and hence de-emotionalize) the argument.
    – Level River St
    May 29, 2018 at 18:45

2 Answers 2

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Perhaps you're looking for reconcile:

  1. to bring into agreement or harmony; make compatible or consistent

On the reconciliation of science and religion.

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Consider synthesis:

synthesis noun 1 The combination of components or elements to form a connected whole. ‘the synthesis of intellect and emotion in his work’ - ODO

The notion of reconciling opposites might come from definition 3, about Hegelian synthesis:

3 (in Hegelian philosophy) the final stage in the process of dialectical reasoning, in which a new idea resolves the conflict between thesis and antithesis.

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