Proximity operators are words or symbols (connectors) placed between search terms to specify the order and closeness of the search terms. Proximity operators are particularly useful when searching the Web or full-text databases such as Lexis-Nexis.

For Example:
The Search
Retrieves an article	Finds ford within the same sentence as market, and find market next to share
Proximity operators help pinpoint this article	Ford's Market Share Increases Ford announced today that it's market share has increased by two percentage points since the posting of its annual report two months ago.