Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Sharing an edge or boundary; touching.
  • adjective Neighboring; adjacent.
  • adjective Connecting without a break.
  • adjective Connected in time; uninterrupted.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Touching; meeting or joining at the surface or border; hence, close together; neighboring; bordering or adjoining; adjacent: as, two contiguous bodies, houses, or estates: usually followed by to.
  • Specifically In entomology: So thickly strewn as to be close together or touch, but without coalescing: as, contiguous spots, dots, or punctures, Almost or quite touching at the base: as, contiguous antennæ.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective In actual contact; touching; also, adjacent; near; neighboring; adjoining.
  • adjective See Adjacent angles, under Angle.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective connected; touching; abutting
  • adjective adjacent; neighbouring/neighboring
  • adjective connecting without a break

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective very close or connected in space or time
  • adjective connecting without a break; within a common boundary
  • adjective having a common boundary or edge; abutting; touching

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Latin contiguus, from contingere, contig-, to touch; see contact.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin contiguus ("touching"), from contingere ("to touch"); see contingent, contact, contagion.

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Examples

  • The 48 states besides Alaska and Hawaii are referred to as the contiguous U.S., rather than the continental U.S.

    Essential Guide to Business Style and Usage PAUL R. MARTIN 2002

  • The 48 states besides Alaska and Hawaii are referred to as the contiguous U.S., rather than the continental U.S.

    Essential Guide to Business Style and Usage PAUL R. MARTIN 2002

  • Both Bush and Kerry advocate the creation of a Palestinian state that would be viable and "contiguous" - that is, something more than a collection of little Bantustans like the pseudo-sovereign states set up by the old apartheid regime in South Africa.

    Shadowland: Malign Neglect 2007

  • During a 2009 speech to the Indianapolis Rotary Club, he called the state "the wild west of redistricting," complaining that the only rule governing the process is that districts have to be "contiguous" - and there's little clarification about what that means.

    The Seattle Times 2011

  • If, however, the U.S. turns Biden's word -- "contiguous" -- into a binding commitment, encompassing virtually all of the West Bank and Gaza, it would be hard for the Palestinians to walk away.

    Countercurrents.org 2010

  • Had I commanded, I should have moved in contiguous columns of brigades, my cavalry protecting my advance up to the enemy's position till within range of his guns, the troops so moving as to be able to anticipate any movement of the enemy to the discomfort of Ferozepore, and to enable me to throw the weight of the attack upon the right of the enemy, if, as I apprehended from all I had heard, he was as assailable upon his right as on any other given point.

    The Autobiography of Liuetenant-General Sir Harry Smith, Baronet of Aliwal on the Sutlej, G. C. B. 1903

  • The large and enduring threat that the U.S. and Israel are looking for can be described as a contiguous swath of land where the so-called radical Muslims roam unchecked.

    The Mass Killing of the Good Options! 2007

  • International law recognizes that coastal nations may establish zones contiguous to their territorial seas, known as contiguous zones.

    Proclamation On Contiguous Zone Of The United States Clinton, Bill, 1946- 1999

  • I imagine that the notion of contiguous space-times with varying properties looks quite logical if you're used to thinking of a universe with an extremely small radius.

    Explorations ANDERSON, Poul 1981

  • Interference with shipping beyond the so-called contiguous zone (another 12 miles beyond the 12 miles of territorial waters) would be also a violation of the freedom of the high seas, in this case aggravated if the ships in question were on a widely acknowledged humanitarian mission to break a criminally unlawful blockade.

    arabnews - frontpage 2010

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