01 a. Nearest; next immediately preceding or following.
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1.
Nearest; next immediately preceding or following.“The proximate natural causes of it [the deluge].” — T. Burnet.
Phrases & compounds
Proximate analysis —
an analysis which determines the proximate principles of any substance, as contrasted with an ultimate analysis.
Proximate cause —
A cause which immediately precedes and produces the effect, as distinguished from the remote, mediate, or predisposing cause.
Proximate principle —
one of a class of bodies existing ready formed in animal and vegetable tissues, and separable by chemical analysis, as albumin, sugar, collagen, fat, etc.