Coalesce means to come together to form one whole. It often describes the process where different elements, ideas, or groups unite to create something new or more significant. This term is commonly used in various fields, including science, where different substances might combine, or in social contexts, where diverse communities merge. In computing, coalesce can refer to the merging of data from different sources to produce a unified dataset. For example, in databases, the SQL function COALESCE is used to return the first non-null value from a list of arguments, helping to streamline data retrieval and management.