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

Their crews are at risk if the ships are damaged, and the vessels could capsize if they are in the vicinity of giant ice chunks breaking off glaciers, a process called calving.

From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026

Peaking at over 4,000 metres, the Weissmies mountain - which the two men went missing in the vicinity of - is a popular mountaineering spot in the Saas Valley.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

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

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

The only color in the vicinity was the frost rouge on the men’s cheeks and the blue of Burnham’s and Olmsted’s eyes.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson

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

Antiquities trafficking is ongoing, but to a lesser degree thanks to strict security measures at historical sites and their vicinities.

From US News ● Apr. 5, 2016

He is therefore unmolested for the most part, whether he walks down the streets of his home town or wanders the byways of dangerous vicinities.

From How to Analyze People on Sight Through the Science of Human Analysis: The Five Human Types by Elsie Lincoln Benedict

Related Words

• environs
• neighborhood
• proximity