Can you say close proximity

Test Your Vocabulary. Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words? Love words? Need even more definitions? Homophones, Homographs, and Homonyms The same, but different.

Ask the Editors 'Everyday' vs. What Is 'Semantic Bleaching'? How 'literally' can mean "figuratively". The definition of 'proximity' is 'the state of being near, next, or close'. Using 'close', while redundant, is reinforcing the rarer word. Just because people do it often doesn't mean it makes sense; those people 'could care less'. Proximity implies being close, but it is also used in the sense of being a measure of how close. In the same way that heat is typically used in reference to things which are hot , but it can also be used as a near equivalent to temperature.

Therefore close proximity is idiomatic and redundant, but can also be taken to mean very proximate , in contrast to just proximity meaning a measure of just how close two things are. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Is "close proximity" a tautology? Ask Question. Asked 10 years, 2 months ago.

Active 8 years, 9 months ago. Viewed 49k times. Improve this question. Tod Tod 1 1 gold badge 2 2 silver badges 6 6 bronze badges. The opposite, "long distance" would then also be redundant? No, I would say proximity can occur in various degrees, just as distance can. The "distance" analogy strikes me as flawed. Given the OED definition of: "The extent of space lying between any two objects; the space to be passed over before reaching an object. A distance can be far, near, long or short.

This OED has dozens of examples of the usage, dating back to the early s. It was derived from the Latin noun proximitas nearness or kinship , which came from the adjective proximus nearest, next. The noun was soon being used to refer to other kinds of nearness—time, space, distance, and so on. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. But then the prospect of a lot Of dull M. Help support the Grammarphobia Blog with your donation.

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