contiguity

Etymology

From French contiguïté, from Late Latin contiguitās, from Latin contiguus (“bordering upon”), from contingō (“I touch or border upon”).

noun

1. A state in which two or more physical objects are physically touching one another or in which sections of a plane border on one another.
   In the mechanical conception of ‘cause’ it is…demanded that there should be spatial and temporal contiguity between the movements involved. 1958–1960, R.S. Peters, The Concept of Motivation, Routledge & Kegan Paul (second edition), chapter i: “Types of Explanation in Psychological Theories”, page 12