Word of the Day

: March 30, 2011

proximity

noun prahk-SIM-uh-tee

What It Means

: the quality or state of being proximate : closeness

proximity in Context

Although the proximity of the large dog made her nervous, Carla tried to keep her composure.

"The tiny island nation of Malta, owing to its proximity to Libya -- Tripoli is closer to Malta than to Benghazi -- has emerged as a major transport hub as nations scramble to evacuate their citizens from Libya." -- From a blog post by Joshua Keating at ForeignPolicy.com, March 3, 2011

Did You Know?

The history of "proximity" hinges on the idea of closeness, both physical and metaphorical. English speakers borrowed the word from Middle French, which in turn acquired it from Latin "proximitat-, proximitas," forms of the adjective "proximus," meaning "nearest" or "next." A number of other languages, including Catalan, Portuguese, and Italian, derived similar words from Latin "proximus." Other descendants of "proximus" in English include "proximal," "proximate," and the somewhat more rare "approximal" (meaning "contiguous").