vicinity

American  

[vi-sin-i-tee] / vɪˈsɪn ɪ ti /

noun

• vicinities
  plural

1. the area or region near or about a place; surrounding district; neighborhood.

   There are no stores in the vicinity of our house.

2. state or fact of being near; proximity; propinquity.

   He was troubled by the vicinity of the nuclear testing area.

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vicinity British  

/ vɪˈsɪnɪtɪ /

noun

1. a surrounding, adjacent, or nearby area; neighbourhood

2. the fact or condition of being close in space or relationship

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• vicinities
  plural

Etymology

Origin of vicinity

1550–60; < Latin vīcīnitās, equivalent to vīcīn ( us ) near ( vīc ( us ) wick ³, neighborhood + -īnus -ine ¹ ) + -itās -ity

Explanation

If something is in your vicinity, it's in the surrounding area or nearby region — it's in the neighborhood, so to speak. If there's a garbage dump in your vicinity, you'll certainly smell it. The noun vicinity evolved from the Latin vicinitas, which means “of or pertaining to neighbors or a neighborhood.” Not until 1796 did the word expand in meaning to also describe a “surrounding district.” Said American author Washington Irving, “A kind heart is a fountain of gladness, making everything in its vicinity freshen into smiles.” Slang for vicinity include neck of the woods and turf.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

vicinity vicinities

In November 2025, regulators issued violations to contractors there for using equipment during a pipeline pressure test that is prohibited within 1,000 feet of a school, of which there are three in the immediate vicinity.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026

The solution is essentially an array of specialized sensors that allows a Digit 5 to reliably detect people in its vicinity and slow its movements the closer someone gets to it.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026

The man entered the water in the vicinity of Meanwhile Gardens, off Kensal Road.

From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026

Ukraine's air force had warned of Russian "Kalibr" missiles in the vicinity of the village of Kagarlyk within the Kyiv region, heading towards the capital.

From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026

I walked around to familiarize myself with my vicinity.

From "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah

The team also prepared training sessions and webinars available to schools to help them identify potential hazards in their vicinities and structural weaknesses in their buildings.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 31, 2021

The answer was that all of Lion Air’s accidents happened during takeoffs and landings and therefore at relatively low speed, either on runways or in their immediate obstacle-free vicinities.

From New York Times ● Sep. 18, 2019

The community is virtually invisible, with most people working in meat-producing factories in the vicinities while those in town keep an extremely low profile.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 7, 2018

Dr Schlegel may thus have found a mechanism by which black holes can switch off star formation in their vicinities.

From Economist ● Jan. 7, 2016

This itinerant picnic was called in some vicinities tuck-a-nuck, an Indian word; also mitchin.

From Stage-coach and Tavern Days by Alice Morse Earle

Related Words

• environs
• neighborhood
• proximity