3
: the quality or state of being near : proximity Did you know?Howdy, neighbor! Today we cozy up to vicinity, a word with neighborly origins that was welcomed into English as a French import in the 16th century from Middle French vicinité. It comes ultimately from Latin vicus, meaning "row of houses" or "village," by way of Latin vicinus, meaning "neighboring." Other descendants of vicinus in English include vicinal (a synonym of local) and vicinage, a synonym of vicinity in the sense of "a neighboring or surrounding district." Both of these are formal and rare, but vicinage is notable for giving title to the Vicinage Clause, a segment of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution that entitles an accused person to "an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law."
Examples of vicinity in a Sentencethere are no hotels in the vicinity of the hospital the vicinity of the town's only elementary school was one reason why the young couple bought the house
Recent Examples on the Web Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback. Ship-tracking data analyzed by the Associated Press put one of the vessels believed to be carrying the chemical in the vicinity in March, as Ambrey said. —Jon Gambrell, Los Angeles Times, 27 Apr. 2025 But then the team started finding more of these caterpillars, all covered in the body parts of other insects and shed spider skins, and all in the vicinity of spider webs. —ArsTechnica, 24 Apr. 2025 The Indonesian Hospital, a stately four-story building, was one of the few structures in the vicinity still standing, though it, too, had reportedly been shelled. —Clayton Dalton, New Yorker, 18 Apr. 2025 The voices of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg were heard along the streets of Silicon Valley this weekend, but neither of the tech billionaires were in the vicinity. —Greta Cross, USA Today, 16 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for vicinity Word HistoryEtymology
Middle French vicinité, from Latin vicinitat-, vicinitas, from vicinus neighboring, from vicus row of houses, village; akin to Goth weihs village, Old Church Slavic vĭsĭ, Greek oikos, oikia house
First Known Use
1560, in the meaning defined at sense 3
Time Traveler
The first known use of vicinity was in 1560 Cite this Entry“Vicinity.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vicinity. Accessed 10 May. 2025.
Last Updated: 1 May 2025 - Updated example sentencesLove words? Need even more definitions?
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