[garettmd]

But I think a distinction between "against" and "next to" is that generally speaking, "against" implies a closer contact than just being "next to" or "adjacent to" something. Like in the chair example, "against the wall" would mean pushing the chair up as close to the wall as you can make it, whereas "next to the wall" would mean putting it close to it, but not necessarily touching it. If it was a folding chair and someone told me to put it "against the wall" I would take that to mean "fold it up and prop it up on the wall".