propinquity

/pɹəˈpɪŋ.kwɪ.ti/

Etymology

From propinqu(ent) + -ity, from Middle English propinquite, from Middle French propinquité or Latin propinquitās, from propinquus (“neighbouring”) (from prop(e) (“near”) + (h)inc (“hence”) + -uus).

propinquity means Nearness or proximity Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 81 out of 100.

Why this word is great

PROPINQUITY — [Noun] Nearness in place, time, or relationship; also, the similarity in nature born of such closeness. From Middle English propinquite, from Middle French propinquité, from Latin propinquitās ("nearness"), from propinquus ("neighbouring, near"), from prope ("near") + -inquus ("pertaining to"). Unlike "proximity" (which primarily measures a cold, metric space) or "affinity" (which celebrates a pre-existing, spiritual bond), propinquity is the fertile, often accidental, condition of closeness from which all connection sprouts. It is the shared, silent radiator of a boarding-house hallway, the coincidental alignment of two umbrellas in the same stand day after day, or the quiet, decades-long accrual of resemblance between two sisters who live apart. We are shaped less by grand designs than by the quiet, insistent press of what is simply, unavoidably, near.

noun

Nearness or proximity“Some experimental spirits could not resist the diversion of throwing Varick and his former wife together, and there were those who thought he found a zest in the propinquity.”
Affiliation or similarity.“Heere I diſclaime all my Paternall care, / Propinquity and property of blood, / And as a ſtranger to my heart and me, / Hold thee from this for euer.”