English Reference

Word

contiguous

Phoneticscon·tigu·ous

US/kənˈtɪɡjuəs/

UK/kəntˈɪɡjuːəs/

Definition

adj. sharing a border or touching along one side. You use this to describe things like rooms, countries, or states that are next to each other without any gaps.

adj. sharing a common border or touching along an edge; adjacent in space or time. Often used in legal or geographical contexts to describe physical proximity.

Examples

“The two offices are contiguous and share a door.”

“The United States consists of forty-eight contiguous states plus Alaska and Hawaii.”

“The developer purchased several contiguous plots of land to ensure the new shopping complex would have a unified and uninterrupted footprint.”

Examples

simple

“The two offices are contiguous and share a door.”

contextual

“The United States consists of forty-eight contiguous states plus Alaska and Hawaii.”

complex

“The developer purchased several contiguous plots of land to ensure the new shopping complex would have a unified and uninterrupted footprint.”

Usage

Often followed by the preposition 'with'.

Real-World Examples

“The policy aims to tighten Israel’s hold on the occupied West Bank and block the creation of a contiguous Palestinian state.”
Al Jazeera · 22 Aug 2026
“This vast network of roads spiderwebs its way across the contiguous US, leaving only about 5 percent as an inventoried roadless area or wilderness .”
Ars Technica · 22 Aug 2026
“In a statement on Friday, McEntee said the project poses a “fundamental threat” to a contiguous Palestinian state and, ultimately, a two-state solution.”
BreakingNews.ie · 21 Aug 2026

Etymology

From Latin contiguus (“touching”), from contingere (“to touch”); see contingent, contact, contagion.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry

Level
C1 · Advanced
Frequency
Occasional
Updated

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English Reference