關於Contiguous的意思和用法的提問

A: Things that are right next to each other / touch each other.

The only way I have ever seen this word used is to describe the US states besides Alaska (which is separated by Canada) and Hawaii (which is separated by the ocean).

“The contiguous United States”
“The 48 contiguous states of the US”

A: connected.48 states of America are connected except for Alaska and Hawaii. They are not contiguous.

A: Contiguous could mean sharing a boundary.

It could also mean a region which is connected without any breaks.

I've come across 'contiguous zone' in Legal/Maritime context to define the boundary of the country to include a few miles of the sea.

A: All four terms mean that something is in contact/close with another thing
However
Contiguous is more commonly used for geographical features.
adjacent is used for things of a smaller scale (buildings, roads, etc)
The same could be said for neighbouring
adjoining is used for even smaller objects: roads, rooms, etc

A: Contiguous is not a common word. This is the only context I have heard it in:
48 out of 50 states of the US are “contiguous.”

It just means that they touch each other.

Layers are usually on top of each other.

I am wearing multiple layers of clothing because it is winter.
The earth has 3 layers: the crust, the mantle and the core.
Pizza has 3 layers too: cheese, sauce and bread.

You could say that in most of these cases, the layers are contiguous because they all touch each other.

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