adj

proximal

PROK-sih-muhl

adj

Located nearer to the center of the body, a point of attachment, or a point of reference.

"The proximal end of the femur connects to the hip joint."

Closer to the speaker, in linguistics or general usage.

"Words like "this" and "here" are proximal, pointing to something nearby."

How to Use Proximal

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishNearer to a reference point — often used in anatomy to mean "closer to the body's center."

Common mistake

Easy to mix up with its opposite, distal ("farther away") — proximal always means closer.

Easily confused with

distal →

more proximal comparative, most proximal superlative

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Can you complete this real example?

The _____ end of the femur connects to the hip joint.

From Latin proximus, the superlative form of prope, "near."

antonym(s) of “closer to the point of attachment closer to the speaker”

animal primal decimal optimal minimal

antonym(s) of “closer to the point of attachment closer to the speaker”