Proximity

How to spell proximity

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce proximity

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does proximity mean?

1. nounNearness in space, time, or relationship.

Proximity in a sentence

• The flat sold quickly because of its proximity to the train station.

• Working in close proximity to senior staff helped her learn the job fast.

Where does proximity come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin proximitas, meaning 'nearness' or 'closeness', which was built on the adjective proximus, the superlative of prope 'near', so proximus literally meant 'nearest' or 'next'. English took the word in the early 1500s by way of Old French proximite, keeping the sense of physical or relational closeness. The same Latin root surfaces in 'approximate', literally 'to come near to', and in the rarer legal term 'proximate cause', the cause nearest in the chain of events. The tricky 'xim' in the middle echoes the original proximus directly, which is a useful anchor for the spelling. Because the stress lands on the second syllable, the unstressed vowels around it tend to blur, which is where careless spellers slip.

How the word is built

• proxim- (from Latin proximus: nearest)
• -ity (noun-forming suffix denoting a state or quality)