Abutting

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /əˈbʌt.ɪŋ/

Definitions

1. Being directly next to or sharing a common boundary with another object or area
2. Situated so as to have a common border with something else without any gap
3. Placed adjacent to something else, so that the edges or borders meet

Etymology: "Abutting" is the present participle of "abut," so its history is really the history of the verb. "Abut" comes from Anglo-Norman and Old French "abouter," meaning to join at the end, formed from "a-" (to) and "bout" (an end or extremity). The sense is literal: two things meet end to end, touching at a boundary rather than overlapping. The "bout" in that verb is the same word that gives English "butt" and "butt end," the thick or blunt end of something. So the core picture is of one object's end pressing against another's, like the ends of two planks or the edges of two fields. The adjective simply describes things standing in that relation, such as abutting properties sharing a property line.

Synonyms: adjacent, bordering, contiguous, touching, meeting

Antonyms: distant, separate, disconnected, isolated, remote