proximate
Americanadjective
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next; nearest; immediately before or after in order, place, occurrence, etc.
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close; very near.
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approximate; fairly accurate.
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forthcoming; imminent.
adjective
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next or nearest in space or time
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very near; close
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immediately preceding or following in a series
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a less common word for approximate
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of proximate
1590–1600; < Late Latin proximātus, past participle of proximāre to near, approach. See proximal, -ate 1
Explanation
Proximate things are either nearby or close in time. The proximate arrival of a new grandchild means your grandma had better finish knitting those booties. A Rube Goldberg machine is like a giant chain of proximate causes – one action causes another. Use the adjective proximate for things that are close to each other or somehow related. Like the noun proximity, or nearby area, it comes from the Latin root, proximus, "nearest." In legal terms, you may have a case if the proximate cause of a fall was someone’s negligence. You can use proximate to mean "imminent" (or close by, but in terms of time), as in "The proximate publication of her story made her both nervous and excited."
Vocabulary lists containing proximate
This Week in Words: April 22 - 27, 2018
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Call Us What We Carry
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for April 5–April 11, 2026
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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 proximate cause is a fuel price increase, no question about it.
From Slate • May 5, 2026
The proximate cause of this crisis is a war that most of these farmers had little reason to care about before.
From BBC • Apr. 30, 2026
With investors already fearful about the more proximate risks posed by the hundreds of billions being spent on AI, this vision of the future spooked the markets further.
From Barron's • Feb. 27, 2026
“Their failure was a cause-in-fact and proximate cause of the accident,” the department’s lawyers wrote.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 18, 2025
Thus Pizarro’s capture of Atahuallpa illustrates the set of proximate factors that resulted in Europeans’ colonizing the New World instead of Native Americans’ colonizing Europe.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
