Nearby means a short distance away. A nearby shop, a nearby village, the church nearby whose bells you hear on a Sunday morning.
It works two ways round. In front of a noun it is an adjective: a nearby hotel, a nearby field. Standing on its own after the verb it is an adverb: they live nearby, she parked nearby. The one thing nearby will not do is take an object — you cannot say nearby the station. For that you need near or close to: near the station, close to the station. Write it as one word, no hyphen. The tone is neutral, so it sits comfortably in a police report and in a text to a friend.
1adverbnearbyA short distance from here, or from the place being talked about.
“Her parents live nearby, so she sees them most weeks.”
synonyms: close by, not far away
2adjectiveneighbouringSituated a short distance away.
“We stopped at a nearby café to wait out the rain.”
synonyms: neighbouring, adjacent
Also accepted in games: near
Nearby is two small words that grew together. Middle English wrote it as ner-bi or neer by, plainly near plus by, and centuries of use rubbed the gap out.
Middle English
ner-bi
English, today
nearby
From Middle English ner-bi, neer by, equivalent to near + by.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Man Called Ove, Directions & Position
First appears in chapter 10 of A Man Called Ove.
Practise this word