Category:Proximate

Prox"i*mate, a. Etym: [l. proximatus, p. p. of proximare to come Near, to approach, fr. proximus the nearest, nest, superl. of propior Nearer, and prope, adv., near.]

Defn: nearest; next immediately preceding or following. "proximate Ancestors." J. S. Harford. The proximate natural causes of it [the deluge]. T. Burnet. Proximate analysis (chem.), an analysis which determines the Proximate principles of any substance, as contrasted with an ultimate Analysis. -- proximate cause. (a) a cause which immediately precedes and Produces the effect, as distinguished from the remote, mediate, or Predisposing cause. I. Watts. (b) that which in ordinary natural Sequence produces a specific result, no independent disturbing Agencies intervening. -- proximate principle (physiol. Chem.), 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.

Syn. -- nearest; next; closest; immediate; direct.