adjacent

adjacent

English

WOTD – 11 February 2009

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “OED says this comes from middle/old French, then from Latin”)

    Borrowed from Latin adiacēns, adiacentis, derivative of adiaceō (to lie beside); from ad (to) + iaceō (to lie down).

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /əˈd͡ʒeɪ.sənt/
      • Audio (US):(file)
      • Audio (General Australian):(file)

    Adjective

    adjacent (not comparable)

    1. Lying next to, close, or contiguous; neighboring; bordering on.
      Synonyms: abutting, adjoining, contiguous, juxtaposed, near
      Antonyms: apart, distant, nonadjacent
      Because the conference room is filled, we will have our meeting in the adjacent room.
      • For quotations using this term, see Citations:adjacent.
    2. Just before, after, or facing.
      The picture is on the adjacent page.
    3. (figuratively, postpositive) Related to; suggestive of; bordering on.
      • 2018 October 27, Alex Williams, “Why Is CBD Everywhere?”, in The New York Times[1], →ISSN, archived from the original on 13 March 2022:
        It would be false to suggest CBD is nothing more than an obsession for reiki-adjacent bicoastal millennials.
      • 2018 December 25, “Faith Leaders Speak about Leading Through Natural Disasters; Who's Been Naughty and Nice in 2018 Politics?”, in New Day[2], Chris Cillizza (actor), via CNN, archived from the original on 29 November 2022, retrieved 27 July 2019:
        First of all, she's probably the most popular politics-adjacent figure in the country. She's not a politician. She's never run for anything, but I have said for a long time – I think we all agree – if she did ever want to run for something, she would be right at the front of the line.
      • 2026 March 15, Naveen Kumar, “Timothée Chalamet Was Supposed to Be a New Kind of Leading Man”, in The New York Times[3], →ISSN:
        He’s [Timothée Chalamet is] smug and entitled. He’s dismissive of opera and ballet. He’s Kardashian-adjacent.

    Derived terms

    Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

    Noun

    adjacent (plural adjacents)

    1. Something that lies next to something else, especially the side of a right triangle that is neither the hypotenuse nor the opposite.
      • 1980, Faber Birren, The textile colorist:
        Again, the key colors have twice the area of the adjacents.
      • 2011, Mark Zegarelli, ACT Math For Dummies, page 194:
        Picking out the opposite, the adjacent, and the hypotenuse []

    Preposition

    adjacent

    1. Next to; beside.
      The house adjacent to the school was demolished.
      A notice was sent to the house adjacent the school.
    2. (figuratively) Related to; suggestive of; bordering on.
      • 2008 March 27, Ingrid Lunden, “Braintree launches Extend to integrate loyalty, fraud prevention and other services into payments”, in TechCrunch[4], retrieved 26 July 2019:
        While Amazon has increasingly become a one-stop shop for some people, we’re also seeing a large proliferation of online companies looking to connect with users wherever they happen to be spending the most time, whether that’s on a social media platform, or on a site that caters to interests adjacent to the businesses’s own — and most importantly not necessarily on the company’s own web properties.

    Usage notes

    • This preposition is usually constructed as adjacent to. However, in the U.S., adjacent is sometimes used on its own.

    References

    • Bromwich, Jonah Engel (16 July 2019), “Why Is Everything ‘Adjacent’ Now?”, in The New York Times[5], retrieved 26 July 2019

    Catalan

    Etymology

    Borrowed from Latin adiacentem. Doublet of eina.

    Pronunciation

    Adjective

    adjacent m or f (masculine and feminine plural adjacents)

    1. adjacent (lying next to)

    Further reading

    French

    Etymology

    Borrowed from Latin adiacentem, present active participle of adiaceō (adjoin, border). Doublet of aise.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /a.dʒa.sɑ̃/
    • Audio:(file)
    • Audio (France):(file)
    • Audio (France (Lyon)):(file)

    Adjective

    adjacent (feminine adjacente, masculine plural adjacents, feminine plural adjacentes)

    1. adjacent

    Further reading

    Latin

    Verb

    adjacent

    1. third-person plural present active indicative of adjaceō

    Occitan

    Etymology

    Borrowed from Latin adiacēns, adiacentem, present active participle of adiaceō (adjoin, border).

    Adjective

    adjacent m (feminine singular adjacenta, masculine plural adjacents, feminine plural adjacentas)

    1. adjacent (lying next to)

    Polish

    Noun

    adjacent m pers

    1. Pre-1936 spelling of adiacent.

    Declension