distance
/ˈdɪst(ə)n(t)s/ noun, verb
Forms distances distancing distanced distancest distancedst distanceth distaunce distancy
- noun An amount of space between points (often geographical points), usually (but not necessarily) measured along a straight line.
- noun (horse racing) Chiefly in by a distance: a space of more than 30 lengths (about 80 yards or 7.3 metres) between two racehorses finishing a race, used to describe the margin of victory; also (archaic), any space of 240 yards (about 219.5 metres) on a racecourse.
- noun Chiefly in from a distance: a place which is far away or remote; specifically (especially painting), a more remote part of a landscape or view as contrasted with the foreground.
- noun Chiefly with a modifying word: a measure between two points or quantities; a difference, a variance. “angular distance focal distance”
- noun An interval or length of time between events.
- noun (figurative) A separation in some way other than space or time. “The friendship did not survive the row: they kept each other at a distance.”
- noun Synonym of length (“an extent measured along the longest dimension of an object”).
- noun (figurative) A disagreement, a dispute; also, an estrangement.
- verb Often followed by from: to set (someone or something) at a distance (noun sense 1.1) from someone or something else.
- verb To cause (a place, a thing, etc.) to seem distant, or (figurative) unfamiliar.
- verb To leave behind (someone or something moving in the same direction; specifically, other competitors in a race) some distance away; to outpace, to outstrip.
- verb To keep (someone) emotionally or socially apart from another person or people.
- verb To exceed or surpass (someone, such as a peer or rival); to outdo, to outstrip.
- verb (reflexive) To keep (oneself) away from someone or something, especially because one does not want to be associated with that person or thing. “He distanced himself from the comments made by some of his colleagues.”
- verb (chiefly US, horse racing, archaic) Of a racehorse: to beat (another horse) by a certain distance; also (passive voice), to cause (a horse) to be disqualified by beating it by a certain distance.
- verb To cover the entire distance to (something).
Synonyms
spread length quarrel alienation standoffishness unfriendliness unsociableness outdistance outgallop outrun aloofness space outstrip
Etymology
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.
* Middle Dutch distancie, distantie (modern Dutch distantie); Dutch afstand (“distance”, literally “off-stand, off-stance”)
* German Distanz; German Abstand
Webster’s 1913
- noun The space between two objects; the length of a line, especially the shortest line joining two points or things that are separate; measure of separation in place.
- noun Remoteness of place; a remote place.
- verb To place at a distance or remotely.
- verb To cause to appear as if at a distance; to make seem remote.
Etymology [F. distance, L. distantia.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “distance”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details