the world > space > distance > distance or farness > [adverb] > from or at a distance > from a distance (5)
From far, from a distance.
= from afar at sense 1b. Now only with verbs of seeing. Now literary and rare.
From afar; from a distance. Cf. afar, adv. 1.
Used in certain of the above senses (esp. 1, 2, 3, 9, 10) with an adverb or a phrase (prep. + n. or… With object an adverb (of place or time), as…