The plain adjacent meaning is next to, beside or very near something else. Two flats that share a wall are adjacent, and so are two seats in a row or two states on a map that share a border.
The word sounds formal, so you meet it more in writing than in chat: property listings, hotel bookings, maths books and office memos. Lately it has also picked up a new job as a suffix, as in tech-adjacent, meaning close to a field without being fully part of it.
Entry at a glance
Meaning
Next to, bordering, or lying nearPart of speech
AdjectivePronunciation
uh-JAY-suhnt; the d is silentWord forms
adjacency (noun), adjacently (adverb, rare)Origin
Latin adiacere, "to lie near", from ad (to) and iacere (to lie)Opposite
distant, far, separate, remotePairs with
adjacent to, the adjacent room, directly adjacent
Adjacent meaning in everyday English
Adjacent describes position. It usually means two things are touching or share an edge, but it can also mean close by with only a small gap. Context tells you which.
- Touching: adjacent plots of land share a boundary line.
- Neighbouring: the adjacent building might be across a narrow lane.
- Next in a series: adjacent pages, adjacent numbers on a scale, adjacent frames of a video.
If you need to define adjacent in a phrase, "lying next to" covers almost every case.
Putting adjacent to work
The pattern you will see most is adjacent to: The parking lot is adjacent to the stadium. You can also put it before a noun: the adjacent table, an adjacent district. Adverbs that sit well with it include directly, immediately and closely.
- We booked adjacent rooms so the kids could knock on our door.
- The new metro line will run adjacent to the highway for most of its length.
- Her desk is adjacent to the printer, so she hears it all day.
- The farmers on adjacent fields agreed to share one water pump.
- Click on any two adjacent cells to merge them.
Adjacent definition in maths
Geometry gives the definition of adjacent some precise forms that students in both India and the US learn early.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Adjacent angles | Two angles that share a common vertex and a common side, and do not overlap |
| Adjacent sides | Two sides of a shape that meet at a corner |
| Adjacent side in trigonometry | In a right triangle, the side next to the chosen angle that is not the hypotenuse; cosine is adjacent over hypotenuse |
| Adjacent vertices | In a graph or polygon, two points joined directly by an edge |
Note that adjacent angles do not have to add up to any fixed amount. When two adjacent angles form a straight line, they are called a linear pair and add up to 180 degrees.
The new suffix: something-adjacent
In recent years writers have started attaching the word after a noun with a hyphen: finance-adjacent, wellness-adjacent, celebrity-adjacent. It means related to, or on the edges of, that field. A designer who works with software teams but does not code might call herself tech-adjacent.
This use is informal and still new, so keep it out of formal reports, but it is common in job posts, magazines and social media. It is a good example of how an old Latin word can find a fresh, playful role, a kind of shift you can read about on our connotation page.
Adjacent, adjoining and contiguous
- Adjacent: next to; may or may not touch.
- Adjoining: definitely touching, often connected, like adjoining rooms with a shared door.
- Contiguous: touching along a boundary, a formal word used for land and regions; the 48 contiguous US states share borders with one another.
- Neighbouring: the friendly, everyday choice for places close by.
The opposite ideas are distant, remote and far apart. For a related geometry word, see perpendicular, and for more about place words see rural and urban.
Spelling and pronunciation slips
The d in adjacent is silent in normal speech, so it sounds like uh-JAY-suhnt. Because of that, people sometimes write "ajacent" or "adjecent". Remember the pattern ad + jacent, the same start as adjust and adjective.
The noun is adjacency, used in maths (an adjacency matrix) and planning (the adjacency of two zones). It is not "adjacence".
Frequently asked questions
Does adjacent mean touching?
Often, but not always. Adjacent can mean sharing a side or edge, or simply lying very near. If you need to say clearly that two things touch, adjoining or contiguous is more exact.
What is the meaning of adjacent angles?
Adjacent angles share one vertex and one side and do not overlap. Think of two slices of pizza cut from the same centre that sit side by side.
How do you pronounce adjacent?
Say uh-JAY-suhnt; JAY gets the punch. The d is not pronounced separately.
Is it adjacent to or adjacent with?
Use adjacent to. Adjacent with is not standard English, and editors will usually correct it.
What does tech-adjacent mean?
It describes someone or something close to the technology world without being at its centre, such as a recruiter for software firms. This suffix use is informal and fairly new.