adjacent
Americanadjective
-
lying near, close, or contiguous; adjoining; neighboring.
a motel adjacent to the highway.
- Synonyms:
- touching
- Antonyms:
- distant
-
just before, after, or facing.
a map on an adjacent page.
-
(used in combination)
-
related or very close to a specified topic, activity, etc..
While the comment was not outright racist, it was racist-adjacent.
-
supporting or being an ally of a group or subculture without being a part of it.
She describes herself as queer-adjacent.
-
having the traits or interests of a group or subculture without being a part of it.
Are they full-on geeks or just nerd-adjacent?
-
adjective
-
being near or close, esp having a common boundary; adjoining; contiguous
-
maths
-
(of a pair of vertices in a graph) joined by a common edge
-
(of a pair of edges in a graph) meeting at a common vertex
-
noun
Synonym Usage
See adjoining.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of adjacent
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin adjacent- (stem of adjacēns, present participle of adjacēre “to adjoin”), equivalent to ad- “toward” ( see ad-) + jac- “lie” + -ent- adjective suffix ( see -ent)
Explanation
Adjacent means close to or near something. You may consider the people up and down your street to be neighbors, but your next-door neighbor is the person who lives in the house or apartment adjacent to yours. Adjacent can refer to two things that touch each other or have the same wall or border. And the adjective is often followed by the preposition to: Her office is adjacent to mine. This word is from Latin adjacere "to lie near," from the prefix ad- "to" plus jacere "to lie, throw."
Vocabulary lists containing adjacent
30 GRE Words Beginning with "A"
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The Westing Game
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"The Hunger Games" Vocabulary from Chapter 1
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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.
Or, at least, love adjacent to a very good Italian deli.
From Salon • Jul. 11, 2026
A semitruck caught fire on Interstate 5 north of Castaic on Monday and sparked a blaze in the adjacent brush, leading to lane closures and lengthy rush hour delays.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 7, 2026
Jelly Roll later expanded this rural holding with the addition of an adjacent 18.5-acre parcel that was purchased via the same trust for $500,000 in November 2025.
From MarketWatch • Jul. 4, 2026
The adjacent "mipyme" -- Cuba's acronym for small business which is used as shorthand for any private enterprise -- is a picture of plenty, offering everything from rice, Cuba's staple starch, to rum and ketchup.
From Barron's • Jul. 3, 2026
Because it was late and adjacent to the hotel, Eliza and I decided to go there.
From "Proud" by Ibtihaj Muhammad
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.
