adjacent

adjective

ad·​ja·​cent ə-ˈjā-sᵊnt How to pronounce adjacent (audio)
Synonyms of adjacentnext
1
a
: not distant : nearby
the city and adjacent suburbs
b
: having a common endpoint or border
adjacent lots
adjacent sides of a triangle
c
: immediately preceding or following
2
of two angles : having the vertex and one side in common
adjacently adverb

Synonyms

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Choose the Right Synonym for adjacent

adjacent, adjoining, contiguous, juxtaposed mean being in close proximity.

adjacent may or may not imply contact but always implies absence of anything of the same kind in between.

a house with an adjacent garage

adjoining definitely implies meeting and touching at some point or line.

had adjoining rooms at the hotel

contiguous implies having contact on all or most of one side.

offices in all 48 contiguous states

juxtaposed means placed side by side especially so as to permit comparison and contrast.

a skyscraper juxtaposed to a church

Examples of adjacent in a Sentence

The Harrimans owned two large adjacent houses on N Street, one for themselves and one for Averell Harriman's pictures. — Larry McMurtry, New York Times Review of Books, 23 Oct. 2003
Hearing unexpected chords was linked to magnetic activity in a left-brain region known as Broca's area and in adjacent right-brain tissue. — Bruce Bower, Science News, 5 May 2001
The hallways, especially those adjacent to the satellite phone, were crowded with journalists, avid to cover the Taliban takeover … — Michael Ignatieff, New Yorker, 24 Mar. 1997
Digging further in that spot and five adjacent areas, they retrieved 19 skulls, five eggs, over 150 jaws and hundreds of teeth, limbs and bone bits. — Natalie Angier, Time, 8 Oct. 1984
their house is adjacent to a wooded park
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
This could include suppliers, distributors, service providers and industry influencers or even businesses in adjacent markets. — Wendy Cai-Lee, Forbes, 4 Mar. 2025 The label’s strategy so far has been to open boutiques adjacent to hotels: The Carlyle in New York, the Beverly Wilshire in Los Angeles, and Claridge’s in London. — Joelle Diderich, WWD, 4 Mar. 2025 Produced by Insomniac Events, HARD Summer will take place at Hollywood Park, the 300-acre entertainment complex adjacent to SoFi Stadium. — Katie Bain, Billboard, 4 Mar. 2025 Interior renovations to the weight room and locker room at the Anderson Family Football Complex, adjacent to the stadium, were completed and unveiled in August of 2023. — Tammy Ljungblad, Kansas City Star, 28 Feb. 2025 See All Example Sentences for adjacent

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, borrowed from Anglo-French agisaunt, adjesant, borrowed from Latin adjacent-, adjacens, present participle of adjacēre "to lie near, border on," from ad- ad- + jacēre "to lie," stative derivative from the base of jacere "to throw" — more at jet entry 3

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of adjacent was in the 15th century

Rhymes for adjacent

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adjacent
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Cite this Entry

“Adjacent.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/adjacent. Accessed 10 Mar. 2025.

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Kids Definition

adjacent

adjective
ad·​ja·​cent ə-ˈjās-ᵊnt How to pronounce adjacent (audio)
1
: lying next or near : having a border or point in common
a field adjacent to the road
2
: having a vertex or a vertex and side in common
adjacent angles
adjacent sides of a rectangle
adjacently adverb

More from Merriam-Webster on adjacent

Nglish: Translation of adjacent for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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