NEAREST

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does nearest mean? 

• NEAREST (adverb)
  The adverb NEAREST has 1 sense:

1. (superlative of 'near' or 'close') within the shortest distance

  Familiarity information: NEAREST used as an adverb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• NEAREST (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(superlative of 'near' or 'close') within the shortest distance

Synonyms:

closest; nearest; nighest

Context example:

that was the time he came nearest to death

Domain usage:

superlative (an exaggerated expression (usually of praise))

 Context examples 

The knife, in fact, had come the nearest in the world to missing me altogether; it held me by a mere pinch of skin, and this the shudder tore away.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

They did feel it, yet neither spoke of it, for often between ourselves and those nearest and dearest to us there exists a reserve which it is very hard to overcome.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The nearest known exoplanet is Proxima Centauri b, which is 4.25 light years away.

(Some Exoplanets May Have Greater Variety of Life than Exists on Earth, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The Professor, unabashed, seized the nearest Indian by the shoulder and proceeded to lecture upon him as if he were a potted specimen in a class-room.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Mrs. Fairfax's room and yours are the nearest to master's; but Mrs. Fairfax said she heard nothing: when people get elderly, they often sleep heavy.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The nearest single star to the Sun hosts an exoplanet at least 3.2 times as massive as Earth — a so-called super-Earth.

(Super-Earth Discovered Around Barnard's Star, ESO)

You must not shrink. You are nearest and dearest and all the world to me; our souls are knit into one, for all life and all time.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The MESSENGER spacecraft entered orbit around Mercury in March 2011, and spent four years observing this nearest planet to our Sun until it was deliberately brought down to the planet’s surface in April 2015.

(A Closer Look at Mercury’s Spin and Gravity Reveals the Planet’s Inner Solid Core, NASA)

Nearest the black hole, the gas orbits at close to the speed of light, while the outer portions spin a bit more slowly.

(NASA Visualization Shows a Black Hole’s Warped World, NASA)

At just 12.5 light years from the Earth, Teegarden’s Star is the 24th-nearest known star system to our Solar System, and one of the smallest “red dwarf” stars discovered to date.

(Researchers find two new planets with masses similar to Earth’s near a small neighbouring star, University of Granada)