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distance

dis·tance

US/ˈdɪst(ə)n(t)s/ common us
noun (6) verb (2)

noun

1.

the property created by the space between two objects or points

2.

a distant region

  • “I could see it in the distance”
3.

size of the gap between two places

  • “the distance from New York to Chicago”
  • “he determined the length of the shortest line segment joining the two points”
Synonyms
4.

indifference by personal withdrawal

  • “emotional distance”
Synonyms
5.

the interval between two times

  • “the distance from birth to death”
  • “it all happened in the space of 10 minutes”
Synonyms
6.

a remote point in time

  • “if that happens it will be at some distance in the future”
  • “at a distance of ten years he had forgotten many of the details”

verb

1.

keep at a distance

  • “we have to distance ourselves from these events in order to continue living”
2.

go far ahead of

  • “He outdistanced the other runners”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English distance, distaunce, destance (“disagreement, dispute; discrimination; armed conflict; hostility; trouble; space between two points; time interval”), from Anglo-Norman distance, distaunce, destance, Middle French distance, and Old French destance, destaunce, distaunce (“debate; difference, distinction; discord, quarrel; dispute; space between two points; time interval”) (modern French distance), and directly from their etymon Latin distantia (“difference, diversity; distance, remoteness; space between two points”) (whence also Late Latin distantia (“disagreement; discrepancy; gap, opening; time interval”)), from distāns (“being distant; standing apart”) + -ia (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). Distāns is the present active participle of distō (“to be distant; to stand apart; to differ”), from dis- (prefix meaning ‘apart, asunder; in two’) + stō (“to stand”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand (up)”)). The verb is derived from the noun. Cognates * Middle Dutch distancie, distantie (modern Dutch distantie); Dutch afstand (“distance”, literally “off-stand, off-stance”) * German Distanz; German Abstand * Italian distanza * Portuguese di...

Phrases

  • action at a distance
  • aesthetic distance
  • angular distance
  • at a distance
  • automatic distance control
  • Bhattacharyya distance
  • blockwise distance
  • braking distance
  • social distance
  • socially distance

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.