distantdis‧tant /ˈdɪstənt/ ●●○ W3 adjective 
the sound of distant gunfire Her honeymoon seemed a distant memory. That affair was in the dim and distant past (=a long time ago). The president hopes to visit Ireland in the not too distant future (=quite soon).distant from stars that are distant from our galaxy► see thesaurus at far2not friendly unfriendly: After the quarrel Sue remained cold and distant.3not concentrating thinking deeply about something private, rather than about what is happening around you: Geri had a distant look in her eyes.4relative [only before noun] not closely related to you OPP close: a distant cousin5distant from something different from something or not closely connected with it: The reality of independence was distant from the hopes they had had.—distantly adverb: We are distantly related.COLLOCATIONSnounsthe distant past/future (=a long time in the past/future)· It is a fictional story set in the distant past.· In the distant future, there may be a cure for the disease.a distant memory (=something that happened a long time ago)· Already the summer seemed like a distant memory.distant mountains/hills· From here, you can look out to the distant hills.a distant planet/galaxy/star· They saw telescope images of the distant planet Neptune.a distant sound· Sometimes you can hear the distant sound of traffic from the main road.distant thunder· Distant thunder rumbled over the mountains.distant places· She loved the wild, distant places of Scotland.a distant land literary (=a country that is a long way away)· He fled to a distant land.phrasesin the dim and distant past humorous (=a long time ago)· Back in the dim and distant past when I was at school, computers didn’t exist.in the not too distant future (=quite soon)· We’re expecting a final decision in the not too distant future.
WORD ORIGINdistant
Origin:
1300-1400 Latin distans, present participle of distare ‘to stand apart’, from stare ‘to stand’EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- As she was growing up, her father was always distant and took little interest in her achievements.
- By now, the plane was just a distant speck in the sky.
- Howard is a distant cousin of my mother's.
- Jeff's been kind of distant lately.
- The neighbors seem very distant, although I try to be friendly.
- There was a flash of lightning and then the rumble of distant thunder.
- There was no sound other than the distant roar of the ocean.
- Travelers came from distant lands to visit the shrine.
- Adelaida Parra coordinates seven literacy groups each week spending long hours travelling by bus between the distant shanty towns.
- Even the plural in their name seems to make them extend farther into a distant romantic haze.
- Firebug shrugged, his eyes distant.
- Fog hangs on the distant and some of the near hills.
- High-tech digital cameras are used extensively in astronomy to capture dim light from distant galaxies.
- Then her sad eyes met Morse's in a sort of distant, anonymous camaraderie: she smiled across, almost fully.
THESAURUS
adverb a long distance – used mainly in negatives and questions, or after ‘too’, ‘so’, and ‘as’: · It’s not far to the airport from here.· Have you driven far?· The ship was so far away we could hardly see it.
adverb a long distance from somewhere. This is the most common way of talking about long distances, except in negatives and questions when far is also common: · You must be tired – you’ve come a long way.· It’s a long way down from the top of the cliff.· I can’t see things that are a long way away.
adverb informal a very long way: · We hiked miles.· The school is miles away from where I live.
adverb a long way from where you are now – used when talking about things that seem small or sounds that seem quiet because they are a long way away: · Dogs were barking somewhere in the distance.
adjective especially written used about something that is a long distance from where you are now, and looks small or sounds quiet: · By now, the plane was just a distant speck in the sky.· the rumble of distant thunder
adjective especially written a very long distance from where you are now: · a traveller from a faraway land· His voice sounded faraway.· He told us stories about the faraway countries he had visited.
adjective a remote place is a long distance from other places, and few people go there: · The helicopter crashed in a remote part of the country.· remote holiday destinations
adjective an isolated place is a long distance from other towns, buildings, or people, and there is very little communication with surrounding places: · isolated rural areas of Nepal· Occasionally we passed through a small isolated village.· If you travel to isolated areas, make sure you have a good guide.
(also off the beaten path American English) adverb a place that is off the beaten track is a long distance from the places where people usually go, and often seems interesting and different because of this: · She likes to go to places that are a bit off the beaten track.
Longman Language Activatorwhen something you can see or hear is far away if you can see or hear something in the distance , it is a long way from where you are, so it looks small or does not sound loud: · In the distance, he could see the tall chimneys of the factory.· Dogs were barking somewhere in the distance.
especially written a distant thing or noise is very far away, so that it looks small or sounds quiet: · By now, the plane was just a distant speck in the sky.· There was a flash of lightning and then the rumble of distant thunder.
at the place far away where the land or sea seems to meet the sky: · Another ship appeared on the horizon.· Storm clouds on the horizon were rapidly blowing in our direction.
from a place that is a fairly long way away: · From a distance, the two birds look similar.· He followed her at a distance, making sure she didn't see him.
in a place very far from where you are now, so that it is difficult to see or hear what is there: · Then, from a long way off, I heard high-pitched laughing.· There was a sound of a car backfiring far off in the night.· Far away, to the east, you can just see the spire of the cathedral.
American far from where you are: · He could hear voices from way off in another part of the house.· Way off in the distance I could see a light shining.
if you do something at long range , especially shoot someone or something, you do it from far away: · The police officer fired one shot at long range and hit the man.· The guns are not nearly as accurate at long range.
far away from other places a distant or far-off town or country is a long way from where you are: · Food at the fair comes from such far-off places as Brazil and Lithuania.· How can we send our young men off to distant lands to die in foreign wars?
written a faraway country, especially one that you have been told about or have read about, is very far away, and different from your own country: · Ed told us stories of all the faraway countries he had visited.· Avis always dreamed of an exotic vacation in some faraway place.
remote places are far away from other places or people, and very few people go there: · They moved to a remote farmhouse in North Wales.· The helicopter crashed in a remote desert area.
a long way from other towns, buildings, or people, especially in a quiet place where you are alone: · If you travel to isolated areas, make sure you have a good guide.· The area is extremely isolated because of the hills that surround it.
a secluded place is private and quiet because it is a long way from other people - use this about a place where people can do what they want without being disturbed: · They drove to a secluded spot in the country to have their picnic.· We rented a little cabin on the edge of a secluded lake.
informal in a lonely place a long way from towns or villages, where you do not expect to find any houses: · Amazingly, we found a really nice motel in the middle of nowhere.· We were miles from anywhere and had no idea how to get back.
American informal in a part of the country that is a long way from any town: · I'm not moving to that place - it's out in the boondocks.· Gayle lives out in the boonies - it would take at least an hour to get there.
fairly far away from any town or from where other people live, and a little difficult to find and travel to: · The house is a little out of the way, but you should be able to find it.
also off the beaten path American a place that is off the beaten track or path is a long way from the places where people usually go, which usually makes it more interesting to visit: · The little restaurant was so far off the beaten track that we almost didn't find it.· Greg likes to get off the beaten path and discover places that other tourists don't find.
a long way from where you are now or far away from the nearest town: way out in/past/beyond etc: · I live way out in Laurel Canyon.· We drove way out past Reno to the old Fielding place.
far-flung places are all connected with a particular organization, country etc but they are all very far away from it: · Our job is to organize the company's far-flung offices.· Participants come from nations as far-flung as Iceland and Japan.
when someone prefers not to be with other people unfriendly and showing no emotion, as if other people's lives are of no interest to you: · The neighbors seem very distant, although I try to be friendly.· As she was growing up, her father was always distant and took little interest in her achievements.
unfriendly and not wanting to talk to other people or spend time with them, especially because you think you are better than them: · Barbara remained aloof behind the barrier of her menu.· The organization is controlled by aloof intellectuals who do not take an interest in the ordinary members.
behaving in an unfriendly and rather formal way, as if you do not want to get too involved with other people: · She can be quite stand-offish sometimes.· He was well-liked by the senior members of the firm, even though his colleagues found him standoffish and arrogant.
someone who is antisocial does not enjoy being with other people and tries to avoid meeting them or talking to them: · Not everyone who likes playing computer games is an antisocial loner.· Because she was so shy, people often thought she was antisocial.
someone who is unapproachable seems unfriendly so that you are nervous about talking to them: · He kept his arms crossed in front of him and seemed somewhat unapproachable.· A lot of the guys thought she was attractive, but she seemed so unapproachable that no one dared to talk to her.
WORD SETSbaby, nounbarrier method, nounbetrothal, nounboy, nounBr., branch, nouncontraception, nouncousin, noundescendant, noundescent, noundistant, adjectivedivorce, noundivorce, verbdivorced, adjectivedivorcée, noundomestic, adjectivedowry, noundynasty, nounex, nounextended family, nounfamilial, adjectivefamily man, nounfamily planning, nounfamily tree, nounfather, nounfather-in-law, nounfiancé, nounfiancée, nounfilial, adjectivefirst cousin, noungodchild, noungoddaughter, noungrandad, noungrandaddy, noungrandchild, noungranddad, noungranddaddy, noungranddaughter, noungrandfather, noungrandma, noungrandmother, noungrandpa, noungrandparent, noungrandson, noungranny, nounhalf-brother, nounhalf-sister, nounhereditary, adjectivehouse husband, nounin-laws, nounintermarry, verbmaiden aunt, nounmaid of honour, nounmam, nounmama, nounmamma, nounmammy, nounman, nounmarital, adjectivematrimony, nounmiscegenation, nounmixed marriage, nounmonogamy, nounnuclear family, nounoedipal, adjectiveOedipus complex, nounone-parent family, nounparent, nounparentage, nounparental, adjectiveparenthood, nounparenting, nounpaternity, nounpaternity suit, nounpatriarch, nounpatriarchy, nounpedigree, nounpolygamy, nounpropinquity, nounproposal, nounrelative, nounscion, nounseparate, verbseparated, adjectiveseparation, nounsibling, nounsingle parent, nounsister, nounsister-in-law, nounstepbrother, nounstepchild, nounstepdaughter, nounstepfather, nounstepmother, nounstepsister, nounstepson, noununcle, noununion, noununmarried, adjectiveupbringing, nounwedding, nounwedlock, nounwhite wedding, nounwidow, nounwidower, nounwidowhood, noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRYnouns The Alaskan brown bear is a close cousin of the grizzly bear. the distant rumble of gunfire
(=a long time in the past/future)· It is a fictional story set in the distant past.· In the distant future, there may be a cure for the disease.
(=something that happened a long time ago)· Already the summer seemed like a distant memory.
· From here, you can look out to the distant hills.
· They saw telescope images of the distant planet Neptune.
· Sometimes you can hear the distant sound of traffic from the main road.
· Distant thunder rumbled over the mountains.
· She loved the wild, distant places of Scotland.
literary (=a country that is a long way away)· He fled to a distant land.
phrases humorous (=a long time ago)· Back in the dim and distant past when I was at school, computers didn’t exist.
(=quite soon)· We’re expecting a final decision in the not too distant future.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES The Alaskan brown bear is a close cousin of the grizzly bear. (=that it will take a long time to achieve)· Peace in this area may still be a distant dream.
(=a long time from now)· I don't worry about what might happen in the distant future.
(=a very long time from now)· He plans to get married in the dim and distant future.
(=quite soon)· We’re planning to go there again in the not too distant future.
(=not clear, from a long time ago)· He had only dim memories of his father, who had died when he was four.
(=far away)· The sun was setting over the distant mountains.
· Rivers of molten lava clearly flowed here in the distant past.
(=a very long time ago)· I think she sang Ireland's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest sometime in the dim and distant past.
· The mist cleared to reveal the distant peaks across the valley.
· He was some distant relation of Pollitt’s wife.
· She claims to be a distant relative of the Queen.
the distant rumble of gunfire (=a long way away)· All seemed quiet, but for the distant sound of police sirens.
(=very far away)· He stared up towards the distant stars.
· Apart from the occasional rumble of distant thunder, there was silence.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB· You are as distant from their worries and their rows as any angel.· Reporters, from papers as distant as the New York Times, were bored beyond comatose.· He came to regard Fisher as distant, but forceful and rapid and efficient, and later as friendly.· P, targets that once seemed as distant as Mars.· In fact in-laws, and indeed kin as distant as cousins, seem commonly to be included in these employment networks.
· Yet a goal was not far distant.· I closed my eyes and imagined I was in a far distant universe a long, long time ago.· They have homes, often far distant.· They come from a far, far distant land.· That diagnosis is not far distant from Disraeli's own; it is in their prescriptions for the future that they differ.· This, too, seems far distant, almost as remote as the age of Ava Gardner and Kia-Ora.· Only 10 of these were far distant from an existing paper.
· Do kin who are more distant in genealogical terms necessarily fall in the outer circle?· Scientists use the data to infer the distances to similar, but much more distant stars.· She might be compelled to seek help in a more distant village.· The others do not return, presumably traveling on to another, more distant roost.· Status relates to our concern for our standing in the eyes of people more distant from us.· They are closer to some people, more distant from others.· By contrasting colour and black and white photography, the men seem to appear more distant and further unobtainable.· Astronomers bootstrap from nearby stars to more distant constellations to the farthest edges of the universe.
· There is a stillness over the waters, a stillness which stretches to the most distant mountain-top.· But as the most distant tiny box would come over the horizon, another box would appear behind it.· Quasars have red shifts ranging up to 4.5, making them the most distant distinct sources so far detected.· Family solidarity extended to the most distant cousins and even to childhood friends.· She radiated goodness and happiness, and listeners even in the most distant recesses of concert-halls became affected by these qualities.
· Her anxieties, her tension, her thoughts about racing tomorrow had never seemed so distant.· Sometimes he was so distant that he seemed to be in another world.· Mine were of that last tropical downpour in Samaná when the potential violence had seemed so distant to me.· Such ideas, so distant from the old Puritan concepts of afterlife in heaven, became part of his transcendentalist package.· Nurses are no longer expected to sublimate their feelings behind starchy officiousness as has been the case in the not so distant past.· How can we use them to help guide us into our not so distant future?· This may, inpart, explain why current approaches seem so distant from those applied to other periods of the past.· In short-sighted people, images are brought into focus just in front of the retina, so distant things are blurred.
· At some not too distant day, history surely will account him a will-o'-the-wisp, and file him away accordingly.· At first Keoni had seemed very remote, too distant to be a real worry.· The betrayal of a nation was too distant to make her care.· Maybe he was therefore too distant to intercede in the folie a trois developing right under his nose.· This, and similar organisations, may well become agents of environmental change in the not too distant future.· Time and again a permissive present is contrasted with the not too distant past.· The consequences seemed irrelevant, too distant to consider.· Eventually it allowed the emergence of institutions not too distant from our own political and legal understanding of the term.
· If the object is very distant, linear magnification becomes vanishingly small.· The doctor nods to the anesthesiologist, and suddenly things be-come very distant.· A very distant object has to be extremely large to produce an image of appreciable size.· The rest of the world seems very distant on the isolated campus.· Siamangs and the closely allied gibbons are apes too, not very distant from the orang itself.· When he did speak, it was mostly of the very distant past, remembering his brothers as boys.· Both Alpha and Beta are very distant, and are well over 5000 times as luminous as the Sun.· Ears Ringing sounds in ears, vertigo, sensitivity to loud noise, sounds seeming very distant.
NOUN· The distant city of Lucy's dreams was becoming steadily demystified.· Names of distant cities were called out.· She had not killed him, she was leading him away from the open mouth of the cave and towards the distant city.· U-turning, he drove off in the direction of the distant city, without so much as another backward glance.· But Mrs Thomas knows that most of her pupils will go on to college in distant cities, and few return.
· But affairs in distant countries can suddenly end up close to home.· The Jaguar is reported to have crashed in a distant country, mad as hell.· They travelled by sea and by land to distant countries in search of aromatics and artefacts.· His ship came safely through the storm which wrecked or drove to distant countries so many others.· I wondered if our own troops in distant countries behaved in this way.· Explorers of distant countries found other plants which produced curious mental effects.
· A distant cousin had once ended up in the hail.· Charles's distant cousin John Carroll was drawn only once from the religious into the civil sphere during the war.· Joszef had put capital into the real estate business of a distant cousin.· He married a distant cousin, Jocasta.· To think: a distant cousin of the Romanovs, and his love.· They were, in fat, distant cousins, something they never found out.· Father-of-two Ivan, who lived modestly, struck rich 10 years ago when a distant cousin left him £8 million.
· In any event it will be a vision of bow the profit is going to be achieved in the distant future.· Unknown distant future threats are not a reason for spending so much money on the military now.· This, and similar organisations, may well become agents of environmental change in the not too distant future.· In the not-so-distant future, technology will continue to change radically what we see and how we see it.· Jacob's dying blessing focusses on the distant future, when the descendants of these twelve will occupy the promised land.· How can we use them to help guide us into our not so distant future?
· In the 1920s Edwin Hubble observed that distant galaxies look redder than nearby ones.· High-tech digital cameras are used extensively in astronomy to capture dim light from distant galaxies.· It was slightly fuzzy and presumably a distant galaxy.· Quasars are the highly energetic cores of distant galaxies.· Observations of distant galaxies indicate that they are moving away from us: The universe is expanding.· Light given out by distant galaxies has to swim against the tide of expansion to get to us.· But if we look at distant galaxies, there seems to be more or less the same number of them.· It is now well known that distant galaxies are probably about 10 times farther away than Hubble inferred.
· The sun trembled for an instant on the edge of the distant hills, then started to sink behind them.· This combination is useful when suggesting distant hills.· On this side of the Webi, undulating grasslands rose to distant hills, and strips of woodland bordered numerous streams.· Triangulations on distant hills were attempted, weather records kept, and there was an astronomical observatory.
· The same summer ... I am looking down on the world, but it does not stretch away over nebulous distant horizons.· Lassen on the distant horizon, and with the spiked rim of Castle Crags below to the nearby south.· The village faces west to a distant horizon formed by Skye and the Torridon mountains, a glorious prospect.· Then go outside and pick out an object, such as a large tree or building, on the distant horizon.· The wind was blowing free, and if there were any fences they must have been beyond the distant horizon.· I stormed across the wet barren sands towards the thin line of sea on the distant horizon.· The undulating East Anglian landscape stretched towards a not distant horizon.
· Consequently the forms of paternalism signified by feudal relations are more likely to be a recent tradition rather than a distant memory.· Serious problems from a life onshore can fade rapidly to distant memories as sight of land is lost.· The calm was a strange one - a distant memory.· Euclid and Cicero were a distant memory now.· Driven there by some distant memory from his youth.· But that is now a distant memory.· The national institution of the past 60-odd years could soon be a distant memory.· One theory is that it awakens distant memories of floating in the comfort of the womb.
· The sun was setting on the tops of the distant mountains.· Over the valley, a full moon was rising, and a chill wind was blowing down from the distant mountains.· The city fans upwards from the coast, its white towers climbing gracefully into the foothills of the distant mountains.· Still others were as darkly blue as distant mountains.· The only things to break the dusty tedium are distant mountains, ragged scars on the horizon.· Clouds like brassy cauliflowers form over the steel-blue blades of the distant mountain range that borders the plain.· Then the sun is gone and it's suddenly cold and the distant mountains are their night time black cut-out.
· Newton worried about that when his theory of gravitation required apparently instantaneous interaction between two distant objects.· Telescopes help people see distant objects.· This is why the method is often applied to soften and diffuse distant objects or hills, as in atmospheric perspective.· Users can control both magnification and contrast in seeing near as well as distant objects.· As civilisation evolved painters noted that near objects can overlap distant objects.· A bat lives in a world of echoes from near objects, distant objects and objects at all intermediate distances.· A very distant object has to be extremely large to produce an image of appreciable size.· It is an everyday experience; our eyes, ears and noses collect information about distant objects.
· What of that other world, the world of the distant past that now lies beneath our feet?· We move from the distant past, to the past, to the present, to an even earlier past.· Nurses are no longer expected to sublimate their feelings behind starchy officiousness as has been the case in the not so distant past.· In the not so distant past, North Dalton's church was well supported.· The distant past can be introduced through stories.· But why this excursion into the distant past?· When he did speak, it was mostly of the very distant past, remembering his brothers as boys.
· Members from many distant places make the effort to attend and find it well worthwhile.· I was begin-ning to lose touch with my body, floating away to distant places.· They were imagining the dead man in a beautiful distant place, far from the troubles of this world.· The place of the setting sun is always a distant place, different from where we live.· Light from distant places is not only red-shifted by the expansion of the universe, it is also old.· Travel is easier and we are continuously bombarded with information about distant places.· Mysterious indigo with its connotations of protection was a substance and colour full of symbolism in the distant places of Arabia.
· The funny man who had found her on a distant planet and had treated her as a human being.· They got their name more than 100 years ago when astronomers thought their roundish shapes resembled distant planets.· Perhaps prehistoric visitors from distant planets erected it here - Space Odyssey style - purely for this purpose?· Why was she on this distant planet, trying to discover how the Althosian civilization was destroyed?· We pretended to fly to distant planets in futuristic spaceships.· She knows that the guest has come from another, distant planet, one with an important status in the universe.· Taking all this into account, we have to ask why the extraterrestrials should be remotely interested in seeding distant planets.
· Their musical directors are Thomas and Brenda Gunn, distant relations of our dear Pastor.· A distant relation of Halorella, called Peregrinella, is even more remarkable in early Cretaceous rocks.· And others: distant relations, slight acquaintances.· John Bryan was not just Steve's good friend but also a distant relation.· The apprentice was some distant relation of Pollitt's wife; that'd be why he was throwing his weight around.· The other friends were all Parisian except for a young couple, Rumanians living in Paris, distant relations of Teodor.
· Shrimps are distant relatives of insects.· No-one was able to locate even a distant relative.· I even had some distant relatives living here, of the sort that are called cousins, seven times removed.· Two brothers of wife Gail Spiro and a distant relative of her husband arrived in San Diego yesterday.· Two letters that might have been written to a distant relative, and that was all.· All four looked white different, yet slightly the same, like distant relatives with an underlying family resemblance.· Ali was the name of a warrior, a distant relative of the Prophet Muhammad.
· The only noise was the distant rumble of traffic on the coastal road.· A new sound was growing in the tunnel, a distant rumble.· I could faintly hear the distant rumble of commuter traffic from my bedroom - a reminder of what I had temporarily escaped.· There was a long, distant rumble.
· A distant second to the Littlewoods giant is Vernons pools which can offer punters a mere half million.· Hart was a distant second with 16 percent.· Keane is considered to be second in party power, but it is a distant second.
· She heard the distant sound of the tractor starting up, which meant that Fernand had no intention of waiting for her.· Chewing, waiting to get his hit, he seems to be listening for some distant sound.· The fires signalled to something else as well ... Shortly before daybreak Tallis was woken by the distant sound of a hunting horn.· He could already hear distant sounds.· They weren't distant sounds now.· After a while there came the distant sound of rushing water.· We were interrupted by the distant sound of the gate intercom.· Sometimes too, I could hear the distant sounds of other women, coughing or calling out to one another, laughing.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
- I am sure in the dim and distant past it had been filched from the wall.
WORD FAMILYnoundistanceadjectivedistantverbdistanceadverbdistantly
1far away far away in space or time: the sound of distant gunfire Her honeymoon seemed a distant memory. That affair was in the dim and distant past (=a long time ago). The president hopes to visit Ireland in the not too distant future (=quite soon).distant from stars that are distant from our galaxy► see thesaurus at far2not friendly unfriendly: After the quarrel Sue remained cold and distant.3not concentrating thinking deeply about something private, rather than about what is happening around you: Geri had a distant look in her eyes.4relative [only before noun] not closely related to you OPP close: a distant cousin5distant from something different from something or not closely connected with it: The reality of independence was distant from the hopes they had had.—distantly adverb: We are distantly related.COLLOCATIONSnounsthe distant past/future (=a long time in the past/future)· It is a fictional story set in the distant past.· In the distant future, there may be a cure for the disease.a distant memory (=something that happened a long time ago)· Already the summer seemed like a distant memory.distant mountains/hills· From here, you can look out to the distant hills.a distant planet/galaxy/star· They saw telescope images of the distant planet Neptune.a distant sound· Sometimes you can hear the distant sound of traffic from the main road.distant thunder· Distant thunder rumbled over the mountains.distant places· She loved the wild, distant places of Scotland.a distant land literary (=a country that is a long way away)· He fled to a distant land.phrasesin the dim and distant past humorous (=a long time ago)· Back in the dim and distant past when I was at school, computers didn’t exist.in the not too distant future (=quite soon)· We’re expecting a final decision in the not too distant future.