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Neighbor

n. kind, calm warm

What it means

A person who lives nearby or shares a local community.

Reach for it when referring warmly to a person connected by place and everyday mutual responsibility

A neighbor brought warm food while the family recovered.

Words to choose between 8

By register, from playful at the top to literary at the bottom. Tap a word to see when it fits.
everyday
warm
professional
formal
literary

  • everyday

    friend nearby

    Fits when affection matters more than the formal relationship

    Careful A neighbor need not be a friend, and a nearby friend may live outside the locality.

  • everyday

    local

    Fits when shared area matters but exact residential proximity does not

    Careful Local can describe anyone from the area and can sound impersonal.

  • everyday

    next-door neighbor

    Fits when immediate residential proximity is important

    Careful The phrase is too exact for someone who lives several streets away.

  • warm

    community member

    Fits when participation and shared belonging matter more than address

    Careful A community can be professional or online and need not be geographical.

  • professional

    resident

    Fits when official connection to a place is the relevant fact

    Careful Resident does not imply living near the speaker or taking part in community life.

  • formal

    fellow citizen

    Fits when civic equality and shared public life are the point

    Careful Citizenship language can exclude valued residents without that legal status.

  • formal

    householder

    Fits when responsibility for a nearby home is relevant

    Careful Householder excludes many renters, dependants, and unhoused community members.

  • literary

    compatriot

    Fits when shared country creates a broad figurative neighborhood

    Careful Compatriot is national and far more distant than ordinary neighbor.

Opposites 3

  • stranger
  • outsider
  • distant resident

Common phrases 3

  • next-door neighbor

    Our next-door neighbor keeps a spare key for emergencies.

  • good neighbor

    A good neighbor asked before trimming the shared hedge.

  • help a neighbor

    Several teenagers offered to help a neighbor carry groceries upstairs.

Definitions and examples are written for this site. How words are chosen Recording: Vininn126, American accent, from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Updated