See also: distancé



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From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin distantia ‎(distance, remoteneness, difference), from distāns, present participle of distō ‎(I stand apart, I am separate, distant, or different), from di-, dis- ‎(apart) + stō ‎(I stand).



distance ‎(countable and uncountable, plural distances)

    The distance to Petersborough is thirty miles.  There is a long distance between Moscow and Vladivostok.
  2. Length or interval of time.
    • Matthew Prior (1664-1721)
      ten years' distance between one and the other
    • John Playfair (1748-1819)
      the writings of Euclid at the distance of two thousand years
  3. (countable, 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.
    • Roger L'Estrange (1616-1704)
      the horse that ran the whole field out of distance
  7. (uncountable, figuratively) The entire amount of progress to an objective.
  8. (uncountable, figuratively) A withholding of intimacy; alienation; variance.
    • Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
    • John Milton (1608-1674)
      On the part of Heaven, / Now alienated, distance and distaste.
    • John Dryden (1631-1700)
      I hope your modesty / Will know what distance to the crown is due.
    • Francis Atterbury (1663-1732)
      'Tis by respect and distance that authority is upheld.


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Related termsEdit



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.
  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.

Derived termsEdit



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

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From French distance.


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


distance c (singular definite distancen, plural indefinite distancer)

  1. distance
  2. detachment





distance f (5 declension)

  1. distance
  2. interval
  3. railway division


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