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• long distance
  long distance

  noun

  telephone service between distant places.
• long-distance
  long-distance

  adjective

  of, from, or between distant places.

long distance

¹ American  

noun

1. telephone service between distant places.

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long-distance ² American  

[lawng-dis-tuhns, long-] / ˈlɔŋˈdɪs təns, ˈlɒŋ- /

adjective

1. of, from, or between distant places.

   a long-distance phone call.

2. for, over, or covering long distances.

   a long-distance runner.

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adverb

1. by long-distance telephone.

   to call someone long-distance.

long-distance British  

noun

1. (modifier) covering relatively long distances

   a long-distance driver

2. (modifier) (of telephone calls, lines, etc) connecting points a relatively long way apart

3. a long-distance telephone call

4. a long-distance telephone system or its operator

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adverb

1. by a long-distance telephone line

   he phoned long-distance

Etymology

Origin of long distance¹

First recorded in 1900–05

Origin of long-distance²

First recorded in 1880–85

Explanation

Something long-distance occurs between two points that are very far away from each other. A long-distance truck driver has a route that takes her many miles from one city to another. A long-distance phone call is one that you make between two distant places, like Kansas City and Mumbai; and a long-distance relationship is one in which the two people live in different cities, like Seattle and Dallas. A long-distance runner, as opposed to a sprinter, takes part in marathons and other long races. In 1884, this adjective first began describing telephone calls — it's since become less common to use it this way.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

long distance long-distance

A keen hiker and trail runner, Harris was a regular participant in long distance races in Pakistan.

From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026

Say you have to walk a long distance in cold weather because your car ran out of gas?

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026

The ULR in its designation stands for "ultra long distance", a feat made possible by an additional 20,000-litre rear centre fuel tank being fitted to Airbus's A350-1000 model.

From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026

While it was tempting to jump right in with both feet, we decided to date long distance and take things slowly.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026

The Cardinal strain was kept in a different area of the building, behind several walls of biocontainment, a long distance from the monkey flasks.

From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston

The findings reveal a long-distance climate connection in which conditions in the tropics can have major consequences for Antarctica.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 6, 2026

In other words, although they enable pilots to see storm cells on their screens from a relatively short distance away, and request a diversion, they do not allow for detailed long-distance planning.

From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026

That share exceeds the 65.4% of views to existing-home listings coming from outside the listing metro, underscoring the outsized role of long-distance shoppers in new-home demand.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

The average local move in the U.S. costs about $1,700, while a long-distance move can top $4,000, according to the home-services site Angi.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026

As these new phone companies came online, offering their own local, long-distance, international, data, and Internet services, each sought to have its own infrastructure.

From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman