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

That Amziah apparently knows everyone in the vicinity makes it strange that the focus of the film turns to someone with whom he only recently got reacquainted.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

With the storm "moving towards the vicinity of Zhejiang and moving inland, its outer subsiding air will persistently bring extremely hot weather to the territory today to Tuesday", the Hong Kong Observatory said.

From Barron's ● Aug. 9, 2026

The fire started around noon in the vicinity of the Encino Reservoir, near the 4500 block of North Encino Avenue, the L.A.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026

At the time of the explosion, there were approximately 300 people in the vicinity of baggage claim, but there was no evidence to suggest any had been a target.

From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026

“Percy and I were in the vicinity — working, you know — and he couldn’t resist dropping in and seeing you all.”

From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling

Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian president’s office, said that 116 Ukrainians had been released — including “defenders of Mariupol, Kherson partisans, snipers from Bakhmut vicinities, and other heroes.”

From New York Times ● Feb. 4, 2023

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 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

But the damage done by rooks at Navestock and Kelvedon Hatch, and their vicinities, within a small circle, has been estimated at £2,000. annually.

From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 13, No. 371, May 23, 1829 by Various

Related Words

• environs
• neighborhood
• proximity