adjoin
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to be close to or in contact with; abut on.
His property adjoins the lake.
-
to attach or append; affix.
verb (used without object)
verb
-
to be next to (an area of land, etc)
-
to join; affix or attach
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
adjoinsimple
-
adjoinssimple
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have adjoinedperfect
-
has adjoinedperfect
-
am adjoiningprogressive
-
are adjoiningprogressive
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is adjoiningprogressive
-
have been adjoiningperfect progressive
-
has been adjoiningperfect progressive
Past
-
adjoinedsimple
-
had adjoinedperfect
-
was adjoiningprogressive
-
were adjoiningprogressive
-
had been adjoiningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of adjoin
1275–1325; Middle English a ( d ) joinen < Middle French ajoindre. See ad-, join
Explanation
Things that adjoin are next to each other or share a boundary. Two adjoining states are neighbors. The United States adjoins Canada. Just as the word join suggests togetherness, things that adjoin are together in a specific way. They're adjacent, which means they're butting right up against one other. Two adjoining buildings are connected or next-door neighbors. Two adjoining states share a border. If two rooms adjoin, they are connected by a door or they share a wall. When things adjoin, they have a physical connection.
Vocabulary lists containing adjoin
Close Encounters: Synonyms for "Near"
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The Dawes Act
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The Marrow Thieves
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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.
See Examples For:
The witness was also asked by the lawyer about safety issues that could have arisen for local families whose back gardens adjoin the waste ground where the culvert is located.
From BBC ● May 8, 2026
Both major projects will adjoin the new transport infrastructure.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 18, 2023
Citing previous Court opinions, the plurality stated that an adjacent wetland must abut or adjoin a regulated water.
From Washington Times ● Jan. 11, 2023
A large dressing room with built-in shelving and a bathroom with dual vanities, a frameless glass shower and a separate soaking tub adjoin the bedroom.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 25, 2022
This 'dining hall' where I now sit, however, is a modem annexe built to adjoin the main building - a long, flat room characterized by rows of large windows on either side.
From "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro
Kei Nakai says he’ll miss the most his parents’ home — a skinny, green two-story building that adjoins the nursery on Grevillea Avenue.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2025
The Barents Sea, which adjoins the Arctic Ocean, is one of the most productive oceanic areas in the world and home to an enormous diversity of organisms.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 17, 2023
Trains will make eight stops between Redmond Technology Station, which adjoins the Microsoft campus, and South Bellevue Station, which is equipped with a new 1,500-stall park-and-ride garage.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 24, 2023
But last summer the house that adjoins their own started receiving a stream of male visitors at all hours of the day.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2023
Since the living room adjoins his—Joseph and David’s—room, I opened the door so the fire would warm it, too.
From "Z for Zachariah" by Robert C. O’Brien
If data centers occupy the caverns, any improper water management or heat discharge could quickly become an immediate risk to adjoined residential neighborhoods.
From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2023
A few years later, Pfeiffer designed an adjacent student housing tower and adjoined the two facilities with a courtyard and dining commons envisioned as an open-air campus amid skyscrapers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2023
So I went to my room, that adjoined Father’s, and wasted time on my phone screen, and thought how I could be doing this at home, and fell asleep.
From Slate ● Dec. 29, 2020
They’d been adjoined ever since Francis snapped up DeBoer nearly a year ahead of schedule the summer of 2020.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 31, 2019
We pass by rows of adjoined clapboard houses.
From "The Sun Is Also a Star" by Nicola Yoon
Three indoor privies were lighted by skylights and ingeniously ventilated by a 150-foot-long lateral tunnel that drew in air and discharged it through adjoining chimneys, providing a continuous draft.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
The company spent £500,000 creating the pub and adjoining off-license, hiring eight additional staff members.
From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026
At the White House, a historic rose garden conceived by Jacqueline Kennedy was paved over, and its adjoining colonnade refurbished with black granite and gilded presidential portraits.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2026
To get to the trapped man, firefighters cut open another section of an adjoining wall along Main Street and rescued Isaac Valencia, who had been trapped there for 10 hours, according to officials.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026
Our toilet was in a corrugated-iron outhouse shared among the adjoining houses.
From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah
Definitions 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.
