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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

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

Heartstopper Forever follows the young male couple as they prepare for a huge relationship test - going long distance as Nick heads off to university and Charlie stays behind to finish his school exams.

From BBC ● Jul. 16, 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

Then again, maybe you’d also appreciate getting to see the world without having to catch a series of flights or drive a long distance.

From Slate ● May 16, 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

In Los Angeles, this is considered a long-distance relationship.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026

But Symons’s car—which he has affectionately nicknamed “Miles”—has logged 247,000 miles and is still up for frequent long-distance drives.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026

U-Haul rents trucks for long-distance, one-way moves and charges a flat rate that covers six days from New York City to Colorado Springs, an almost 1,800-mile journey.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 29, 2026

A former star student and long-distance runner from a prominent family in Amarillo, Texas, Griffin goes into her first session with a competitor’s single-minded determination to, as she writes, “get to the finish line.”

From Salon ● Jun. 25, 2026

They learned how to build and manoeuvre ocean-going vessels and became long-distance fishermen, traders and explorers.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari