distant

American  

[dis-tuhnt] / ˈdɪs tənt /

adjective

1. 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.

2. apart or far off in time.

   distant centuries past.

3. remote or far apart in any respect.

   a distant relative.

4. reserved or aloof; not familiar or cordial.

   a distant greeting.

   Synonyms:

   withdrawn, cool

5. arriving from or going to a distance, as a communication, journey, etc..

   I have here a distant letter from Japan.

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distant British  

/ ˈdɪstənt /

adjective

1. far away or apart in space or time

2. (postpositive) separated in space or time by a specified distance

3. apart in relevance, association, or relationship

   a distant cousin

4. coming from or going to a faraway place

   a distant journey

5. remote in manner; aloof

6. abstracted; absent

   a distant look

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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

Federal judges on all levels also periodically sit as visiting judges in distant courts that lack a full complement of jurists.

From The Wall Street Journal

While the shape of the emerging international system is far from clear, much of it resembles the distant past—with a different cast of principal players.

From The Wall Street Journal

But before you instinctively type the letters "a/s/l" on your keyboard, get this - for a lot of people, this is hardly the stuff of distant memories.

From BBC

Just before Christmas, in what now seems like the distant past before the U.S. military captured Mr. Maduro, these questions about socialism were still largely abstract.

From The Wall Street Journal

As pressure builds both inside and outside the country, security at home, once presented as the ultimate payoff of those policies, seems more distant than ever.

From BBC

Related Words

• far
• far-flung
• far-off
• inaccessible
• isolated
• obscure
• remote
• removed
• secluded