neighbor

noun neigh·bor \ ˈnā-bər \

Updated on: 12 May 2018

1 : one living or located near another

had lunch with her next-door neighbor

2 : fellow man

thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself
—Matthew 19:19 (King James Version)

See neighbor defined for English-language learners

See neighbor defined for kids

Examples of neighbor in a Sentence

We invited our friends and neighbors.
Canada is a neighbor of the U.S.
Venus is Earth's nearest neighbor.

Recent Examples of neighbor from the Web

Earth and three of its neighbors – Mars, Venus, and Mercury – are all thought to have originated from the same rocky material in the early days of the solar system.

— eva botkin-kowacki, The Christian Science Monitor, "How NASA's latest mission to Mars might dig up truths about Earth," 7 May 2018
Some neighbors evacuated but Gebbie initially stayed home.

— stephanie elam, CNN, "As the ground opened, a teary Hawaii resident bid his home a final farewell," 5 May 2018
Controversial approach For some — including many firefighters from municipalities — protection from a deadly wildfire isn't something that some neighbors should be able to buy when others can’t.

— NBC News, "Wealthy's use of private firefighters ignites debate in wildfire country," 4 May 2018
Runion said residents who escaped got into their cars and honked their horns in hopes of getting the attention of their neighbors.

— Indianapolis Star, "3 firefighters hurt battling Castleton apartment blaze," 3 May 2018
Venezuela is pushing ahead with snap elections as the United States, the European Union and many of its neighbors in the region have said the vote will neither be free nor transparent.

— jim wyss, miamiherald, "Venezuela's Maduro threatens 'armed revolution' ahead of May 20 election | Miami Herald," 3 May 2018
After speaking with some nearby neighbors, the warden learned an individual had picked up the eagle and taken it.

— community report community report, Houston Chronicle, "Game warden field notes," 1 May 2018
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle just welcomed some new royal neighbors to Kensington Palace in London.

— caroline picard, Good Housekeeping, "Princess Eugenie and Her Fiancé Just Moved Next Door to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle," 1 May 2018
Harry and Meghan are getting some new neighbors—his cousin Princess Eugenie, 28, and her fiancé Jack Brooksbank have moved into Ivy Cottage, right next door to Harry and Meghan.

— rachel epstein, Marie Claire, "Princess Eugenie and Her Fiancé Just Moved Right Next Door to Harry and Meghan," 1 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'neighbor.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of neighbor

Middle English, from Old English nēahgebūr (akin to Old High German nāhgibūr); akin to Old English nēah near and Old English gebūr dweller — more at nigh, boor

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: before 12th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

neighbor

adjective

: being immediately adjoining or relatively near

Origin and Etymology of neighbor

see ¹neighbor

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1530

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

neighbor

verb

neighbored; neighboring play \ˈnā-b(ə-)riŋ\

transitive verb

: to adjoin immediately or lie relatively near to

intransitive verb

1 : to live or be located as a neighbor

2 : to associate in a neighborly way

Examples of neighbor in a Sentence

the baseball field neighbors a parking lot

Recent Examples of neighbor from the Web

But analysts note Khatami at least kept Iran's economy under control and the U.S. in check as America conducted wars in neighboring Afghanistan and Iraq.

— nasser karimi, Fox News, "Iran president's influence wanes as nuclear deal threatened," 8 May 2018
Democrats often focus on a different data point, the rate of job growth, where Wisconsin has lagged well behind the nation — and behind some neighboring states such as Minnesota — during Walker’s tenure.

— craig gilbert, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Minnesota outpaces Wisconsin, report says, in latest volley over liberal vs. conservative policies," 8 May 2018
In addition, the ship will have the microbrew-centric District Brew House, which once again features food offerings from the neighboring Food Republic.

— richard tribou, OrlandoSentinel.com, "Norwegian Bliss first new ship of 2018 to make it to North America," 8 May 2018
District 204 has had trouble filling positions because the hourly pay was less than neighboring districts.

— suzanne baker, Naperville Sun, "District 204 will cut custodial staff to pay competitive wages," 8 May 2018
People from the neighboring tent city, a larger one made up mostly of Mexican asylum-seekers, claimed some of the donations intended for the Central Americans.

— gustavo solis, sandiegouniontribune.com, "More immigrants from the Central American caravan enter U.S., few remain waiting in Mexico," 4 May 2018
Close to 700,000 Rohingya refugees have fled to neighboring Bangladesh since last August in the wake of a government crackdown against the minority group.

— jen kirby, Vox, "Zuckerberg: Facebook has systems to stop hate speech. Myanmar groups: No, it doesn’t.," 6 Apr. 2018
Despite being tucked away in an obscure location, the home drew daily visitors , many traipsing into the parking lot of the neighboring apartment building to get a frontal view of from the other side of a small fence.

— Washington Post, "Rosa Parks house to be shown, after trans-Atlantic odyssey," 30 Mar. 2018
Amid some residential parking concerns coming from the neighboring apartment building, City Council on Monday granted a conditional use permit to the Shaker Rocks climbing gym in the Van Aken District.

— thomas jewell, cleveland.com, "Shaker Rocks climbing gym gets conditional use permit from city," 24 Jan. 2018