Wiktionary

distance

See also: distancé

English Edit

 
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Alternative forms Edit

Etymology Edit

From Middle English distance, distaunce, destaunce, from Old French destance, from Latin distantia (“distance, remoteness, difference”), from distāns, present participle of distō (“I stand apart, I am separate, distant, or different”), from di-, dis- (“apart”) + stō (“I stand”). Compare Dutch afstand (“distance”, literally “off-stand, off-stance”), German Abstand.

Pronunciation Edit

Noun Edit

distance (countable and uncountable, plural distances)

  1. 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.
    From Moscow, the distance is relatively short to Saint Petersburg, relatively long to Novosibirsk, but even greater to Vladivostok.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.
  2. Length or interval of time.
    • 1718, Matthew Prior, Preface to a Collection of Poems:
      ten years' distance between my writing the one and the other
    • 1795, John Playfair, Elements of Geometry:
      the writings of Euclid at the distance of two thousand years
  3. (informal) The difference; the subjective measure between two quantities.
    We're narrowing the distance between the two versions of the bill.  The distance between the lowest and next gear on my bicycle is annoying.
  4. Remoteness of place; a remote place.
  5. Remoteness in succession or relation.
    the distance between a descendant and his ancestor
  6. A space marked out in the last part of a racecourse.
  7. (uncountable, figurative) The entire amount of progress to an objective.
    He had promised to perform this task, but did not go the distance.
  8. (uncountable, figurative) A withholding of intimacy; alienation; variance.
    The friendship did not survive the row: they kept each other at a distance.
    • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Seditions and Troubles”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:
      Setting them [factions] at distance, or at least distrust amongst themselves.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
      On the part of Heaven, / Now alienated, distance and distaste.
    • 1892, Walter Besant, chapter III, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:
      In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass. […] Strangers might enter the room, but they were made to feel that they were there on sufferance: they were received with distance and suspicion.
  9. The remoteness or reserve which respect requires; hence, respect; ceremoniousness.
    • 1665, John Dryden, The Indian Emperour […]‎[1], London: Printed by J.M. for H. Herringman, published 1667, Act I, scene ii, page 4:
      though you ſee / The King is kind, I hope your modeſty / Will know, what diſtance to the Crown is due.
    • 1706, Francis Atterbury, A Sermon Preached in the Guild-Hall Chapel, September 28 1706:
      ’Tis by respect and distance that authority is upheld.
  10. The space measured back from the winning-post which a racehorse running in a heat must reach when the winner has covered the whole course, in order to run in the final heat.

Synonyms Edit

Derived terms Edit

Related terms Edit

Translations Edit

Verb Edit

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, published 2005, page 71:
      Then the horse, with muscles strong as steel, distanced the sound.
  3. (transitive) To lose interest in a specific issue.

Derived terms Edit

Translations Edit

Further reading Edit

Anagrams Edit

Danish Edit

Etymology Edit

From French distance.

Pronunciation Edit

  • IPA(key): /distanɡsə/, [d̥iˈsd̥ɑŋsə]

Noun Edit

distance c (singular definite distancen, plural indefinite distancer)

  1. distance
  2. detachment

Declension Edit

Declension of distance
common
gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative distance distancen distancer distancerne
genitive distances distancens distancers distancernes

Further reading Edit

Esperanto Edit

Etymology Edit

From distanco +‎ -e.

Pronunciation Edit

Adverb Edit

distance

  1. To or at a great distance.
    rigardi pentraĵon distance.

French Edit

Pronunciation Edit

Etymology 1 Edit

From Latin distantia.

Noun Edit

distance f (plural distances)

  1. distance (literal physical distance)
    On se tient à distance de deux kilomètres l’un de l’autre.
    We stand at a distance of two kilometers from each other.
  2. distance (metaphoric or figurative)
    Il convient de la tenir à une certaine distance.
    It's suitable to maintain a certain distance.
    • 2014, Jean-Claude Bernardon, Résolution de conflits:
      Votre langage doit vous permettre de maintenir une bonne distance de sécurité, être un peu plus poli et détaché que nécessaire est un avantage.
      Your language must allow you to maintain a good safe distance, to be a little more polite and detached than necessary is an advantage.
Derived terms Edit
Related terms Edit

Etymology 2 Edit

Verb Edit

distance

  1. inflection of distancer:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading Edit

Latvian Edit

Noun Edit

distance f (5 declension)

  1. distance
  2. interval
  3. railway division

Declension Edit

Declension of distance (5th declension)
singular (vienskaitlis) plural (daudzskaitlis)
nominative (nominatīvs) distance distances
accusative (akuzatīvs) distanci distances
genitive (ģenitīvs) distances distanču
dative (datīvs) distancei distancēm
instrumental (instrumentālis) distanci distancēm
locative (lokatīvs) distancē distancēs
vocative (vokatīvs) distance distances
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