Definitions

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

  • adjective Direct or immediate.
  • adjective Very near or next, as in space, time, or order. synonym: close.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Next; immediate; without the intervention of a third.

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

  • adjective Nearest; next immediately preceding or following.
  • adjective (Chem.) an analysis which determines the proximate principles of any substance, as contrasted with an ultimate analysis.
  • adjective That which in ordinary natural sequence produces a specific result, no independent disturbing agencies intervening.
  • adjective (Physiol. Chem.) one of a class of bodies existing ready formed in animal and vegetable tissues, and separable by chemical analysis, as albumin, sugar, collagen, fat, etc.

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

  • adjective Close or closest; adjacent.
  • adjective law Immediately preceding or following in a chain of causation.
  • adjective About to take place; impending.
  • noun linguistics A grammatical marker in the Algonquian (and some other) languages for a principal third person

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

  • adjective very close in space or time
  • adjective closest in degree or order (space or time) especially in a chain of causes and effects

Etymologies

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

[Latin proximātus, past participle of proximāre, to come near, from proximus, nearest; see per in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Late Latin proximatus, past participle of proximare ("to draw near, approach"), from Latin proximus ("nearest"), superlative of prope ("near").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word proximate.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.