distant
Americanadjective
-
far off or apart in space; not near at hand; remote or removed (often followed byfrom ).
a distant place; a town three miles distant from here.
-
apart or far off in time.
distant centuries past.
-
remote or far apart in any respect.
a distant relative.
-
reserved or aloof; not familiar or cordial.
a distant greeting.
-
arriving from or going to a distance, as a communication, journey, etc..
I have here a distant letter from Japan.
adjective
-
far away or apart in space or time
-
(postpositive) separated in space or time by a specified distance
-
apart in relevance, association, or relationship
a distant cousin
-
coming from or going to a faraway place
a distant journey
-
remote in manner; aloof
-
abstracted; absent
a distant look
Other Word Forms
- distantly adverb
- distantness noun
- overdistant adjective
- overdistantly adverb
- quasi-distant adjective
- quasi-distantly adverb
- ultradistant adjective
- undistant adjective
- undistantly adverb
Etymology
Origin of distant
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English dista(u)nt, from Anglo-French, from Latin distant-, stem of distāns “standing apart,” present participle of distāre “to stand apart,” from di- di- 2 + stāre “to stand”; stand
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A distant mother, she relied heavily on nannies but insisted girls should be educated at home.
Seven steps into the trees, I closed my eyes and filtered out the noise of the birds and breeze, and the city beyond that, until a distant but steady thump came to me.
From Literature
It’s finally quiet, just the two of us and the distant thumping from inside.
From Literature
As he spoke, the distant colored lights began glowing in turn.
From Literature
Light from extremely distant objects such as J0100+2802 has been stretched into infrared wavelengths due to the expansion of the universe.
From Science Daily
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
