Definition of "proximal" [prox•i•mal]

• Nearest; proximate. (adjective)
• Anatomy Nearer to a point of reference such as an origin, a point of attachment, or the midline of the body: the proximal end of a bone. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "FlashLinq advances a concept known as proximal communications, whereby users can continuously connect, disconnect and communicate directly with other mobile users at broadband speeds based on their physical proximity."
• "Seventy percent of reductions seen in colorectal cases and deaths were due to fewer cancers in the right part of the colon called the proximal colon, but the aspirin effect did not seem to reduce cancer in the lower part of the colon called the distal colon, and had only a small effect on rectal cancer, the researchers noted."
• "It's called proximal - distal, dorsal - ventral, anterior - posterior."