afar
adverb
from, at, or to a distance; far away (usually followed byoff ).
afar
1 American
[uh-fahr]
/ əˈfɑr /
adverb
idioms
Afar
2
American
[ah-fahr]
/ ˈɑ fɑr /
noun
-
Afars,
plural
-
Afara,
plural
-
Afar
plural
-
a member of a nomadic Muslim people living in Eritrea, Djibouti, and northern Ethiopia.
-
the Northern Cushitic language spoken by the Afars.
afar
British
/ əˈfɑː /
adverb
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of afar
1125–75; Middle English a fer, on ferr; replacing Old English feorran. See a- 1 (perhaps also a- 2 for the meaning “from”), far
Explanation
If something's off at a distance, you can describe it as being afar. You might write a letter to your pen pal in Japan, and say, "This note comes to you from afar." Afar is a poetic and old-fashioned way to say "far away" or "distant." If your summer visitors have traveled from afar, they've come a long way to see you, and if your boyfriend moves to Australia, you might have to continue your relationship from afar. The word is a shortened form of the Old English of feor, in which of means "of" or "on," and feor is "far, remote, or distant."
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.
See Examples For:
"If a galaxy were a city, the brightest stars would be the skyscrapers that immediately catch your eye from afar," said lead author Chloe Cheng, a recent doctoral graduate of Leiden University.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 22, 2026
Sometimes, the hardest thing to do is to love someone from afar, and support them from afar, and quell those feelings of anger and/or confusion that may come up from time to time.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026
From afar, the Sagrada Família, shrouded in mist, appears otherworldly.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
And I am here, finally understanding that loving a place from afar is not the same as loving it.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026
He had seen Mama from afar many times.
From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
Umer, the cattle herder in Afar, said he was worried that an outbreak of disease could start killing his adult camels anytime now.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
Ethiopia's Afar region remains an active rifting zone, shaped by tectonic forces and volcanic eruptions.
From Science Daily ● May 16, 2026
According to Alemseged, the lack of Paranthropus fossils in the Afar had long puzzled researchers.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 23, 2026
The Afar regional government said it was "doing all the necessary life saving operations" on the injured migrants following the "horrific" accident.
From BBC ● Jan. 6, 2026
Afar from the bay came the sounds of bells and whistles.
From Gabriel Conroy by Bert Harte
Afara Lalaind, who filed her civil complaint Thursday at Stanley Mosk Courthouse in downtown L.A., also alleges her reputation “has been ruined” and her chance for advancement is gone.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2024
Signing up are the proud, aggressive Angelus Lipahi and the earnest, hardworking Ezekiel Afara, both inspired by glossy magazine images of surfing superstars.
From New York Times ● Feb. 3, 2012
Afars and Issas, in short, is not even a nice place to visit.
From Time Magazine Archive
Mengistu also faces the possibility of war with Somalia for control of the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas, whose 215,000 citizens last week voted for independence.*
From Time Magazine Archive
Meanwhile the French Territory of Afars and Issas, with its key port of Djibouti, which provides an Ethiopian rail link to the sea, gains independence from Paris next month.
From Time Magazine Archive
The trouble was that they were registered to vote in fewer numbers than the Afars, a rival tribe that wants to stay tied to France.
From Time Magazine Archive
A peace accord in 1994 ended a three-year uprising by Afars rebels.
From The 2001 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency
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.
