proximate
adjective
prox·i·mate
ˈpräk-sə-mət 
1
: immediately preceding or following (as in a chain of events, causes, or effects)
proximate, rather than ultimate, goals—
Reinhold Niebuhr
Reinhold Niebuhr
proximately
adverb
proximateness
noun
Did you know?
If you’d like to approach a better understanding of proximate, and an approximation of its history, pull up a chair and get cozy with the history of its etymological proximity to other English words. Proximate comes ultimately from the Latin adjective prope, meaning "near," a source too of approach, reproach, and propinquity. Other close relations of proximate are easier to spot: they include proximity, approximation and approximate.
Synonyms
Examples of proximate in a Sentence
the proximate cause of the fire
the proximate publication of his first novel
Recent Examples on the Web
None of the six elements need to be proximate to the others.
—Jeff Gibson, Artforum, 1 Nov. 2024
Ever since coastal erosion became a phrase and local legislation came into force in 2001, building a residence so proximate to the water has been forbidden.
—Nielsen Dinwoodie, Forbes, 3 Oct. 2024
My parents were too poor to buy houses that were proximate to where the good schools were.
—Fortune Editors, Fortune, 9 Nov. 2023
There is just muffled breathing and the soft, warm, proximate presence of another … Over a 70-year career, Freud concerned himself almost exclusively with getting paint to convey the living weight and mortal gorgeousness of the human body and of other things close at hand, living and dead.
—Sebastian Smee, Washington Post, 6 Oct. 2022
See all Example Sentences for proximate 
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Jeff Gibson, Artforum, 1 Nov. 2024
Ever since coastal erosion became a phrase and local legislation came into force in 2001, building a residence so proximate to the water has been forbidden.
—Nielsen Dinwoodie, Forbes, 3 Oct. 2024
My parents were too poor to buy houses that were proximate to where the good schools were.
—Fortune Editors, Fortune, 9 Nov. 2023
There is just muffled breathing and the soft, warm, proximate presence of another … Over a 70-year career, Freud concerned himself almost exclusively with getting paint to convey the living weight and mortal gorgeousness of the human body and of other things close at hand, living and dead.
—Sebastian Smee, Washington Post, 6 Oct. 2022
See all Example Sentences for proximate
Dictionary Entries Near proximate
Cite this Entry
“Proximate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/proximate. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
proximate
adjective
prox·i·mate
ˈpräk-sə-mət
1
a
: very near
b
: next, preceding, or following
especially
: relating to or being a proximate cause
2
: determined by proximate analysis
proximately
adverb
Legal Definition
proximate
adjective
prox·i·mate
ˈpräk-sə-mət
1
: next immediately preceding or following (as in a chain of causation, events, or effects) : being or leading to a particular especially foreseeable result without intervention see also proximate cause at cause sense 1
2
: very or relatively close or near
would be sufficiently proximate to the commencement of the defendant's trial—Johnson v. New Jersey, 384 U.S. 719 (1966)
Johnson v. New Jersey, 384 U.S. 719 (1966)
proximately
adverb
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