at arm's length

Idioms  

1. At a distance, avoiding intimacy or familiarity, as in Bill hated seeing his colleagues outside the office, preferring to keep all of them at arm's length, or She was friendly only when he was safely at arm's length. Now often used with the verb keep, this term for distancing oneself from a person, organization, or issue originated as at arm's end but developed its current form by the mid-1600s.

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Example Sentences

“Western Star” is thus the rare authorized biography that keeps its subject at arm’s length.

From The Wall Street Journal

We held each other at arm’s length to look, we babbled questions all at once.

From Literature

She wiped away my tears then, as she held me at arm’s length, brushing the hair from my eyes.

From Literature

"At this distance the Moon will appear to the crew to be about the size of a basketball held at arm’s length."

From Barron's

Oil wealth and careful diplomacy kept turmoil at arm’s length.

From The Wall Street Journal