Adhesion, n.
Etymology: [L. adhaesio, fr. adhaerere: cf. F. adhésion.]
1. The action of sticking; the state of being attached; intimate union; as the adhesion of glue, or of parts united by growth, cement, or the like.
2. Adherence; steady or firm attachment; fidelity; as, to error, to a policy. His adhesion to the Tories was bounded by his approbation of their foreign policy. De Quincey.
3. Agreement to adhere; concurrence; assent. To that treaty Spain and England gave in their adhesion. Macaulay.
4. (Physics)
6 more senses
The molecular attraction exerted between bodies in contact. See Cohesion.
5. (Med.)
Union of surface, normally separate, by the formation of new tissue resulting from an inflammatory process.
6. (Bot.)
The union of parts which are separate in other plants, or in younger states of the same plant.
Syn. -- Adherence; union. See Adherence.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for adhesion; he lists it under attachment.
Where he writes about it:
An attachment is a feeling that binds a person by ties of heart to another person or thing; we speak of a man's adherence to his purpose, his adhesion to his party, or to anything to which he clings tenaciously, tho with no special tenderness; of his attachment to his church, to the old homestead, or to any persons or objects that he may hold dear. — from attachment