What is the difference between “next to, beside, by, and near”

I would say that "next to" and "beside" are identical to me in meaning, signifying immediate adjacency. "near" is a little more approximate and to me, implies it isn't "next to" but just "fairly close". This works for any scale from buildings to cutlery.

"by" is a little more vague. I think on its own, it means the same as "beside"; "walking by the river" means the same to me as "beside".

example: my spoon is next to my plate, but the sugar bowl is only "near" (its on the table, so fairly close, but not probably not next to my plate)

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