adjacent

[ uh-jey-suhnt ]

adjective

1. lying near, close, or contiguous; adjoining; neighboring:

   a motel adjacent to the highway.

   Synonyms: touching

   Antonyms: distant

2. just before, after, or facing:

   a map on an adjacent page.

3. (used in combination)
   1. related or very close to a specified topic, activity, etc.:

      While the comment was not outright racist, it was racist-adjacent.

   2. supporting or being an ally of a group or subculture without being a part of it:

      She describes herself as queer-adjacent.

   3. 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?

adjacent

/ əˈdʒeɪsənt /

adjective

1. being near or close, esp having a common boundary; adjoining; contiguous
2. maths
   1. (of a pair of vertices in a graph) joined by a common edge
   2. (of a pair of edges in a graph) meeting at a common vertex

noun

1. geometry the side lying between a specified angle and a right angle in a right-angled triangle

Derived Forms

• adˈjacently, adverb
• adˈjacency, noun

Other Words From

• ad·jacent·ly adverb
• nonad·jacent adjective
• nonad·jacent·ly adverb
• subad·jacent adjective
• subad·jacent·ly adverb
• super·ad·jacent adjective
• super·ad·jacent·ly adverb
• unad·jacent adjective
• unad·jacent·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of adjacent¹

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin adjacent- (stem of adjacēns, present participle of adjacēre “to adjoin”), equivalent to ad- “toward” ( ad- ) + jac- “lie” + -ent- adjective suffix ( -ent )

Word History and Origins

Origin of adjacent¹

C15: from Latin adjacēre to lie next to, from ad- near + jacēre to lie

Synonym Study

See adjoining.

Example Sentences

All the space under the seating up to row 28 will be gutted to make room for an indoor/outdoor socialization space for games with an adjacent allotment of 800 club seats.

From Los Angeles Times

Cabrera staff highlighted adjacent tracts of land owned by the East Bay Regional Park District, which had previously been a privately owned landfill.

From Los Angeles Times

Soccer players who headed the ball at high levels showed abnormality of the brain's white matter adjacent to sulci, which are deep grooves in the brain's surface.

From Science Daily

The adjacent, more jagged lakeshore cliffs generate weaker and less distinct echoes, while the more or less contemporary dwelling sites on the sandy shores of the same water bodies have no audible echoes at all.

From Science Daily

One such encampment in Dartmouth, a Halifax suburb, sits adjacent to a row of public housing units, where residents complain of needle debris, violence and disputes with those living at the site.

From BBC

Related Words

• adjoining
• bordering
• contiguous
• neighboring