distant

English

Alternative forms

• distaunt, dystant, dystaunt (all obsolete)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɪstənt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪstənt

Adjective

distant (comparative more distant, superlative most distant)

1. Far off (physically, logically or mentally).

   Synonyms: faraway; see also Thesaurus:distant

   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.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     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.

2. Emotionally unresponsive or unwilling to express genuine feelings.

   Synonyms: aloof, cold

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

Derived terms

• dim and distant
• distant starlight problem
• socially distant

 

Related terms

• distal
• distance
• equidistant

Translations

far off

• Afrikaans: afgeleë
• Arabic: بَعِيد (ar) (baʕīd)

  Egyptian Arabic: بعيد (beʕīd)

• Armenian: հեռավոր (hy) (heṙavor)
• Azerbaijani: uzaq (az), iraq
• Bashkir: алыҫ (alıś), йыраҡ (yıraq)
• Belarusian: далёкі (daljóki)
• Bulgarian: далечен (bg) (dalečen), отдалечен (bg) (otdalečen)
• Burmese: ဝေးကွာ (my) (we:kwa)
• Catalan: distant (ca), remot (ca)
• Cherokee: ᎢᎾ (ina)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 遠／远 (jyun⁵)

  Mandarin: 遠／远 (zh) (yuǎn), 遙遠／遥远 (zh) (yáoyuǎn)

• Crimean Tatar: avlaq
• Czech: vzdálený (cs), daleký (cs)
• Dalmatian: luntun
• Danish: fjern (da)
• Dutch: ver (nl), in de verte, verafgelegen (nl)
• Esperanto: distanca, fora
• Estonian: kauge
• Faroese: fjarur, fjarlagin, fjarlagdur, fjarstaddur
• Finnish: etäinen (fi), syrjäinen (fi), etä- (fi), kauko- (fi), kaukainen (fi)
• French: distant (fr), lointain (fr), éloigné (fr)
• Galician: distante, lonxe (gl), afastado, remoto
• Georgian: შორეული (šoreuli), დაშორებული (dašorebuli)
• German: abgelegen (de), abstehend (de), distanziert (de), entfernt (de), fern (de)
• Greek: μακρινός (el) (makrinós)
• Guaraní: mombyry
• Hebrew: מרוחק (merukhaq)
• Hindi: दूर (hi) (dūr)
• Hungarian: távoli (hu)
• Icelandic: fjarlægur (is)
• Ido: fora (io)
• Ingrian: etähäin
• Italian: distante (it), remoto (it)
• Japanese: 遠い (ja) (とおい, tōi), 遠隔な (ja) (えんかくな, enkaku na), 辺鄙な (ja) (へんぴな, henpi na)
• Javanese: adoh (jv)
• Korean: 원격 (ko) (won'gyeok), 먼 (ko) (meon)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: dûr (ku)

• Latin: distans, remōtus (la), longinquus
• Latvian: tāls, attāls, nomaļš
• Livonian: kougi
• Lombard: lontan
• Macedonian: далечен (dalečen), оддалечен (oddalečen)
• Malayalam: അകന്ന (ml) (akanna)
• Maori: mamao, matara, tahiti, tawhiti, pāmamao, kōkēi, nawa
• Marathi: दूर (dūr)
• Odia: ଦୂର (or) (durô)
• Oromo: fagoo
• Ossetian: дард (dard)
• Persian: دور (fa) (dur)
• Polish: daleki (pl), odległy (pl)
• Portuguese: distante (pt)
• Romanian: departe (ro), distant (ro) m or n
• Romansch: lontan
• Russian: далёкий (ru) (daljókij), отдалённый (ru) (otdaljónnyj), да́льний (ru) (dálʹnij)
• Sanskrit: दूर (sa) (dūra)
• Scottish Gaelic: fad às, iomallach
• Slovak: ďaleký, vzdialený
• Somali: fog
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: daloki

• Spanish: distante (es), a distancia, huraño (es), remoto (es)
• Swedish: avlägsen (sv), fjärran (sv)
• Tajik: дур (tg) (dur)
• Tocharian B: akañce
• Turkish: uzak (tr), ırak (tr) (obsolescing, poetic)
• Ukrainian: дале́кий (uk) (dalékyj)
• Urdu: دور (dūr)
• Uyghur: يىراق (yiraq)
• Uzbek: yiroq (uz)
• Venetian: lontàn
• Vietnamese: xa xôi (vi)
• Welsh: pell (cy), anghysbell (cy)
• Yagnobi: дур (dur)
• Zazaki: dûri (diq)

emotionally unresponsive

• Bulgarian: хладен (bg) (hladen), резервиран (bg) (rezerviran)
• Catalan: distant (ca)
• Dutch: afstandelijk (nl)
• Finnish: etäinen (fi), kylmä (fi)
• Greek: απόμακρος (el) (apómakros)
• Hungarian: távolságtartó (hu)
• Russian: отстранённый (ru) (otstranjónnyj)
• Spanish: distante (es)
• Turkish: uzak (tr), soğuk (tr), mesafeli (tr)
• Welsh: oeraidd (cy)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} jauh (id)

Further reading

• “distant”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “distant”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “distant”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• Dantist

Catalan

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin distantem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [disˈtan]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [disˈtant]

Adjective

distant m or f (masculine and feminine plural distants)

1. distant

   Synonyms: llunyà, remot

   Antonyms: pròxim, proper

Related terms

• distància
• distar

Further reading

• “distant” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “distant”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “distant” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “distant” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin distantem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dis.tɑ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

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

1. distant
2. aloof

Related terms

• distance

Descendants

• → Romanian: distant

Further reading

• “distant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Latin

Verb

distant

1. third-person plural present active indicative of distō

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French distant, from Latin distantem.

Adjective

distant m or n (feminine singular distantă, masculine plural distanți, feminine and neuter plural distante)

1. distant, remote

Declension

Declension of distant

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	distant		distantă	distanți	distante
	definite	distantul		distanta	distanții	distantele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	distant		distante	distanți	distante
	definite	distantului		distantei	distanților	distantelor

Related terms

• distanță

Romansch

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin distantem.

Adjective

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

1. (Puter) distant, remote, faraway

   Synonym: luntaun