distance

English

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• distaunce

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin distantia (“distance, remoteneness, difference”), from distans, present participle of distare (“to stand apart, be separate, distant, or different”), from di-, dis- (“apart”) + stare (“to stand”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈdɪstəns/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

distance (countable and uncountable; plural distances)

1. (countable) The amount of space between two points, usually geographical points, usually (but not necessarily) measured along a straight line.

   The distance to Petersborough is thirty miles.

   There is a long distance between Moscow and Vladivostok.

2. (uncountable, figuratively) The entire amount of space to the objective.

   He had promised to perform this task, but did not go the distance.

3. (uncountable, figuratively) A considerable amount of space.

   The friendship did not survive the row: they kept each other at a distance.

Synonyms

• farness

Derived terms

Terms derived from distance

aesthetic distance angular distance automatic distance control braking distance Cartesian distance critical distance distance formula distance learning distance vision distancer edit distance effort distance Euclidean distance focal distance go the distance Hamming distance horizon distance interarch distance interplant distance

keep at a distance keep one's distance Levenshtein distance long-distance luminosity distance mean distance between failure middle-distance polar distance resistance distance self-distance short-distance skip distance social distance spitting distance striking distance string distance taxicab distance walking distance zenith distance

Related terms

• distant

Translations

amount of space between two points

• Arabic: مسافة (ar) (masāfa) f
• Basque: distantzia (eu)
• Breton: pellder (br) m -ioù pl
• Bulgarian: разстояние (bg) (razstojánie) n, дистанция (bg) (distáncija) f
• Catalan: distància (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 距離 (cmn), 距离 (cmn) (jùlí)

• Czech: vzdálenost (cs) f
• Danish: afstand (da) c
• Dutch: afstand (nl) m, eind (nl) n
• Esperanto: distanco (eo), malproksimo (eo)
• Finnish: etäisyys (fi)
• French: distance (fr) f
• German: Distanz (de) f, Entfernung (de) f, Abstand (de) m
• Haitian Creole: distans
• Hebrew: מרחק (he) (merkhák) m
• Hindi: दूरी (hi) (dūrī) f, फ़ासला (hi) (fāslā) m
• Indonesian: jarak (id)
• Interlingua: distantia (ia)
• Italian: distanza (it) f

• Japanese: 距離 (ja) (きょり, kyori)
• Korean: 거리 (ko) (geori) (距離 (ko))
• Latvian: attālums (lv) m, atstatums (lv) m
• Lithuanian: nuotolis (lt) m, atstumas (lt) m, sometimes distancija (lt) f
• Macedonian: растојание (mk) (rastojánie) n, далечина (mk) (daléčina) f, оддалеченост (mk) (oddaléčenost) f, раздалеченост (mk) (razdaléčenost) f,
• Malayalam: ദൂരം (dooram), അകലം (akalam)
• Nahuatl: kalkayotl (nah)
• North Frisian: fiirense f
• Polish: odległość (pl) f, droga (pl) f, dystans (pl) m
• Portuguese: distância (pt) f
• Romanian: distanță (ro) f
• Russian: расстояние (ru) (rasstojánije) n, дистанция (ru) (distáncija) f, отдалённость (ru) (otdaljónnostʹ) f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: у̀да̄љено̄ст (sh) f, даљѝна (sh) f

  Roman: udaljenost (sh) f, daljìna (sh) f

• Zulu: ubude (zu) 14, ibanga (zu) 5/6, iduze (zu) 5/6

Verb

distance (third-person singular simple present distances, present participle distancing, simple past and past participle distanced)

1. (transitive) To move away (from) someone or something.

   He distanced himself from the comments made by some of his colleagues.

2. (transitive) To leave at a distance; to outpace, leave behind.
   • 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska 2005, p. 71:

     Then the horse, with muscles strong as steel, distanced the sound.

Translations

move away

• Breton: pellaat diouzh, mont diouzh
• Bulgarian: дистанцирам се (bg) (distanciram se)
• Dutch: verwijderen (nl)
• Finnish: etäännyttää (fi)
• French: éloigner (fr), s'éloigner
• German: entfernen (de)
• Hebrew: התרחק (he) (hitrakhék)
• Indonesian: menjauhi
• Interlingua: distantiar

• Macedonian: се оддалечува (mk) (se oddaléčuva), се раздалечува (mk) (se razdaléčuva), се дистанцира (mk) (se distancíra)
• Polish: dystansować się
• Portuguese: distanciar-se, afastar-se
• Romanian: distanța
• Spanish: alejar-se
• Swedish: distansera (sv) sig, avlägsna (sv) sig
• Telugu: దూరం చేసుకొను (te) (dooram chEsukonu)

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: try · loved · deal · #625: distance · thinking · beginning · unless

External links

• distance in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• distance in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• distance at OneLook Dictionary Search

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Danish

Etymology

From French distance.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /distanɡsə/, [d̥iˈsd̥ɑŋsə]

Noun

distance c (singular definite distancen, plural indefinite distancer)

1. distance
2. detachment

Inflection

    Inflection of distance

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative, dative and accusative	distance	distancen	distancer	distancerne
genitive	distances	distancens	distancers	distancernes

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French

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

• IPA: /disˈtɔ̃s(ə)/

Noun

distance f (plural distances)

1. distance

Verb

distance

1. first-person singular present indicative of distancer
2. third-person singular present indicative of distancer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of distancer
4. first-person singular present subjunctive of distancer
5. second-person singular imperative of distancer