Learn English – Coterminous vs. Conterminous

meaningmeaning-in-contextsingle-word-requestsword-choice

Which word is more appropriate in a geographical mapping context when referring to counties in a state, contiguous states within a country, contiguous countries within a continent, etc?

Are they interchangeable? Based on this n-gram 'coterminous' is more common, though 'conterminous' seems more accurate?

Coterminous

  • having the same border or covering the same area
  • being the same in extent; coextensive in range or scope

Conterminous

  • having a common boundary; bordering; contiguous
  • meeting at the ends; without an intervening gap

Best Answer

The set of all counties would be coterminous with the state as a whole, occupying the same area.

One county would be conterminous with a neighboring county, having a common border.