adjacent
Americanadjective
-
lying near, close, or contiguous; adjoining; neighboring.
a motel adjacent to the highway.
- Synonyms:
- touching
- Antonyms:
- distant
-
just before, after, or facing.
a map on an adjacent page.
-
(used in combination)
-
related or very close to a specified topic, activity, etc..
While the comment was not outright racist, it was racist-adjacent.
-
supporting or being an ally of a group or subculture without being a part of it.
She describes herself as queer-adjacent.
-
having the traits or interests of a group or subculture without being a part of it.
Are they full-on geeks or just nerd-adjacent?
-
adjective
-
being near or close, esp having a common boundary; adjoining; contiguous
-
maths
-
(of a pair of vertices in a graph) joined by a common edge
-
(of a pair of edges in a graph) meeting at a common vertex
-
noun
Synonym Usage
See adjoining.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of adjacent
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin adjacent- (stem of adjacēns, present participle of adjacēre “to adjoin”), equivalent to ad- “toward” ( see ad-) + jac- “lie” + -ent- adjective suffix ( see -ent)
Explanation
Adjacent means close to or near something. You may consider the people up and down your street to be neighbors, but your next-door neighbor is the person who lives in the house or apartment adjacent to yours. Adjacent can refer to two things that touch each other or have the same wall or border. And the adjective is often followed by the preposition to: Her office is adjacent to mine. This word is from Latin adjacere "to lie near," from the prefix ad- "to" plus jacere "to lie, throw."
Vocabulary lists containing adjacent
30 GRE Words Beginning with "A"
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The Westing Game
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"The Hunger Games" Vocabulary from Chapter 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The buyer—shielded by a land trust and strict NDAs—stitched together a $225 million parcel and an adjacent $86 million estate through representatives.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
A prominent proponent of her display was the phrase “land of immigrants” in large letters, adjacent to a collection of photos of the deceased.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026
The High North - which includes the Arctic circle and areas adjacent to it - has become central to the UK's defence concerns in recent years.
From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026
Twelve hours later, a landslide from the adjacent mountain unexpectedly collapsed into the fjord, initiating the second-highest tsunami in recorded history.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 19, 2026
“So,” I say, slouching down in the chair adjacent to the couch and clasping my hands over my midsection like I’ve got ALL the chill in the world.
From "Odd One Out" by Nic Stone
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
