distant

B1 Topic:Space, Position & Direction

US /ˈdɪstənt/ See IPA manual

adj Freq #3091

Meanings

1

adj
Far away in space.

They dreamed of travelling to distant lands.
2

adj
Far away in time.

In the distant past, this valley was covered by ice.
3

adj
Related to you in a way that is not close.

She turned out to be a distant cousin of mine.
4

adj
Cold and unfriendly; not showing warm feelings.

Ever since our argument, she has been distant toward me.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · far away in space. remote faraway

2 adj · far away in time. remote

3 adj · related to you in a way... remote

4 adj · cold and unfriendly; not... aloof cold reserved standoffish

More farfar-flungfar-offoutlandish outlying

Opposites

near

Word family

Forms distantly

Derived forms distantlydistantnessequidistantnondistantoverdistantsubdistantultradistantundistant

Related forms distaldistancedisto-

Common collocations

distant cousin Adjective + noun

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English distaunt, from Old French distant, from Latin distāns.

*steh₂- Proto-Indo-European distaunt Middle English distant Old French distāns Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Space, Position & Direction Weather & Climate

# distant

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** ˈdɪstənt
**Frequency rank:** 3091

## Meanings
1. Far away in space.
2. Far away in time.
3. Related to you in a way that is not close.
4. Cold and unfriendly; not showing warm feelings.

## Examples
- They dreamed of travelling to distant lands.
- In the distant past, this valley was covered by ice.
- She turned out to be a distant cousin of mine.
- Ever since our argument, she has been distant toward me.

## Synonyms
- far
- far-flung
- far-off
- faraway
- outlandish
- outlying
- remote

## Antonyms
- near

## Derived Forms
- distantly
- distantness
- equidistant
- nondistant
- overdistant
- subdistant
- ultradistant
- undistant

## Related Forms
- distal
- distance
- disto-

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *steh₂-
- Root: distaunt
- Root: distant
- Root: distāns

## Etymology
Inherited from Middle English distaunt, from Old French distant, from Latin distāns.

## AI Etymology
Distant is inherited from Middle English distaunt, from Old French distant, from Latin distāns. In current use, the main senses are “Far away in space” and “Far away in time”. Its deeper ancestry includes Proto-Indo-European *steh₂-.

## Topics
- Space, Position & Direction
- Weather & Climate

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