Oxford Essential Dictionary
neighbour
(British) (American neighbor) noun
a person who lives near you:
Don't make so much noise or you'll wake the neighbours.
which word?
Your next-door neighbour is the person who lives in the house next door to your house
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
neighbour
neigh‧bour S2 W2 BrE AmE British English, neighbor American English /ˈneɪbə $ -bər/ noun [countable]
[Language: Old English; Origin: neahgebur]
1. someone who lives next to you or near you:
One of the neighbors complained about the noise from the party.
FBI agents were interviewing all their friends and neighbors.
Our next-door neighbours (=the people who live in the house next to us) say they’ll look after our cat for us while we’re away.
2. a country that is next to another one ⇨ bordering:
Israel and its Arab neighbours
3. someone or something that is next to another person or thing of the same type:
The teacher saw Phil passing a note to his neighbour.
The garden was divided from its neighbour by a high wall.
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
neighbour
neigh·bour [neighbour neighbours neighboured neighbouring] (especially US neigh·bor) [ˈneɪbə(r)] [ˈneɪbər] noun
1. a person who lives next to you or near you
• We've had a lot of support from all our friends and neighbours.
• Our next-door neighbours are very noisy.
2. a country that is next to or near another country
• Britain's nearest neighbour is France.
3. a person or thing that is standing or located next to another person or thing
• Stand quietly, children, and try not to talk to your neighbour.
• The tree fell slowly, its branches caught in those of its neighbours.
4. (literary) any other human
• We should all love our neighbours.
Word Origin:
Old English nēahgebūr, from nēah ‘nigh, near’ + gebūr ‘inhabitant, peasant, farmer’ (compare with boor).
Example Bank:
• He's having a barbecue and he's inviting all the neighbours.
• I've just met our new neighbours.
• My nearest neighbour lives a few miles away.
• Our new neighbours moved in today.
• She could hear her downstairs neighbour moving around.
• She leaned over to her nearest neighbour and whispered something.
• She's been a very good neighbour to me.
• Shh! You'll wake the neighbours.
• The country is vulnerable to attack from hostile neighbours.
• The neighbours complained about his loud music.
• The two men became neighbours.
• They are near neighbours of ours.
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary - 4th Edition
neighbour ( US neighbor ) / ˈneɪ.bə r / / -bɚ / noun [ C ]
A2 UK someone who lives very near to you:
Some of the neighbours have complained about the noise from our party.
Have you met Pat, my next-door neighbour?
B1 A country's neighbour is one that is next to it:
The relationship between Scotland and its southern neighbour has not always been peaceful.
© Cambridge University Press 2013
Collins Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary
neighbour
/neɪbə(r)/
(neighbours)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
Note: in AM, use 'neighbor'
1.
Your neighbour is someone who lives near you.
I got chatting with my neighbour in the garden.
N-COUNT: oft poss N
2.
You can refer to the person who is standing or sitting next to you as your neighbour.
The woman prodded her neighbour and whispered urgently in his ear.
N-COUNT: oft poss N
3.
You can refer to something which stands next to something else of the same kind as its neighbour.
Each house was packed close behind its neighbour.
N-COUNT: usu poss N
Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's Dictionary
neighbor
neighbor US or Brit neigh·bour /ˈneɪbɚ/ noun, pl -bors [count]
1 : a person who lives next to or near another person
• We invited our friends and neighbors.
• our next-door neighbors [=the people who live in the house next to us]
2 : a person or thing that is next to or near another
• Please pass your paper to your neighbor. [=the person sitting next to you]
• Canada is a neighbor of the U.S.
• Venus is Earth's nearest neighbor.