neighboring

1. 1
   next-dooradjective

   Situated or living nearby or adjacent to another place, person, or thing.

   Smoke from the wildfire drifted into neighboring counties overnight.

   The two neighboring countries signed a trade agreement after years of negotiation.

   Similaradjacent, nearby, bordering, adjoining, surrounding

   Oppositedistant, remote

   Note

   An adjective that works directly before a noun, and just as easily before a place name: neighboring counties, or neighboring Han-k'ou in the Central Intelligence Agency's 1975 brief on Wu-han. It takes no degrees, so nothing is more neighboring than something else; to grade closeness, reach for nearer or nearest. The same spelling also serves as the verb's -ing form, as in a town neighboring the river.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of neighbor.

   The properties neighboring the river sold within weeks of listing.

   Neighboring a national park keeps the area quiet for most of the year.

   Note

   Here the word is still a verb, and it behaves like one. It takes a direct object, as in the properties neighboring the river, whereas the adjective simply stands before a noun. As a gerund it can head a subject phrase: neighboring a national park keeps things quiet. The base verb neighbor shares its spelling with the noun, and both follow the same American spelling.

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