distant

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin distans, present participle of distare (to stand apart, be separate, distant, or different), from di-, dis- (apart) + stare (to stand).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈdɪstənt/
  • (file)

Adjective

distant (comparative more distant, superlative most distant)

  1. Far off (physically, logically or mentally).
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 4, in The Celebrity:
      Judge Short had gone to town, and Farrar was off for a three days' cruise up the lake. I was bitterly regretting I had not gone with him when the distant notes of a coach horn reached my ear, and I descried a four-in-hand winding its way up the inn road from the direction of Mohair.
    We heard a distant rumbling but didn't pay any more attention to it.   She was surprised to find that her fiancé was a distant relative of hers.   His distant look showed that he was not listening to me.
  2. Emotionally unresponsive or unwilling to express genuine feelings.
    Ever since our argument, she has been totally distant toward me.

Synonyms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Further reading

  • distant in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
  • distant in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
  • distant at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams


Catalan

Adjective

distant (masculine and feminine plural distants)

  1. distant

French

Adjective

distant (feminine singular distante, masculine plural distants, feminine plural distantes)

  1. distant
  2. aloof

Further reading


Latin

Verb

distant

  1. third-person plural present active indicative of distō

Romansch

Etymology

From Latin distāns, present participle of distō, distāre (stand apart, be distant).

Adjective

distant m (feminine singular distanta, masculine plural distants, feminine plural distantas)

  1. (Puter) distant, remote, faraway

Synonyms

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