DISTANCE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does distance mean? 

• DISTANCE (noun)
  The noun DISTANCE has 6 senses:

1. the property created by the space between two objects or points

2. a distant region

3. size of the gap between two places

4. indifference by personal withdrawal

5. the interval between two times

6. a remote point in time

  Familiarity information: DISTANCE used as a noun is common.

• DISTANCE (verb)
  The verb DISTANCE has 2 senses:

1. keep at a distance

2. go far ahead of

  Familiarity information: DISTANCE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DISTANCE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The property created by the space between two objects or points

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("distance" is a kind of...):

spacing; spatial arrangement (the property possessed by an array of things that have space between them)

Attribute:

far (located at a great distance in time or space or degree)

close (at or within a short distance in space or time or having elements near each other)

close; near; nigh (not far distant in time or space or degree or circumstances)

distant (separated in space or coming from or going to a distance)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "distance"):

piece (a distance)

hour angle (the angular distance along the celestial equator from the observer's meridian to the hour circle of a given celestial body)

elevation (distance of something above a reference point (such as sea level))

milage; mileage (distance measured in miles)

hour; minute (distance measured by the time taken to cover it)

yardage (distance measured in the aggregate number of yards)

remove (degree of figurative distance or separation)

interval; separation (the distance between things)

wheelbase (the distance from the center of a car's front wheel to the rear axle)

leap (the distance leaped (or to be leaped))

way (the property of distance in general)

mean distance (the arithmetic mean of the maximum and minimum distances of a celestial body (satellite or secondary star) from its primary)

farawayness; farness; remoteness (the property of being remote)

closeness; nearness (the spatial property resulting from a relatively small distance)

wavelength (the distance (measured in the direction of propagation) between two points in the same phase in consecutive cycles of a wave)

focal distance; focal length (the distance from a lens to its focus)

hyperfocal distance (the distance in front of a lens that is focused at infinity beyond which all objects are well defined and clear)

span (the distance or interval between two points)

Derivation:

distant (located far away spatially)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A distant region

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Context example:

I could see it in the distance

Hypernyms ("distance" is a kind of...):

part; region (the extended spatial location of something)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Size of the gap between two places

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

distance; length

Context example:

he determined the length of the shortest line segment joining the two points

Hypernyms ("distance" is a kind of...):

size (the physical magnitude of something (how big it is))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "distance"):

leg ((nautical) the distance traveled by a sailing vessel on a single tack)

arm's length (a distance sufficient to exclude intimacy)

gauge (the distance between the rails of a railway or between the wheels of a train)

light time (distance measured in terms of the speed of light (or radio waves))

skip distance (the shortest distance that permits radio signals (of a given frequency) to travel from the transmitter to the receiver by reflection from the ionosphere)

wingspan; wingspread (linear distance between the extremities of an airfoil)

wingspread (distance between the tips of the wings (as of a bird or insect) when fully extended)

altitude (the perpendicular distance from the base of a geometric figure to the opposite vertex (or side if parallel))

Sense 4

Meaning:

Indifference by personal withdrawal

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

aloofness; distance

Context example:

emotional distance

Hypernyms ("distance" is a kind of...):

indifference (unbiased impartial unconcern)

Derivation:

distance (keep at a distance)

distant (remote in manner)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The interval between two times

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Synonyms:

distance; space

Context example:

it all happened in the space of 10 minutes

Hypernyms ("distance" is a kind of...):

interval; time interval (a definite length of time marked off by two instants)

Derivation:

distant (separate or apart in time)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A remote point in time

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Context example:

at a distance of ten years he had forgotten many of the details

Hypernyms ("distance" is a kind of...):

point; point in time (an instant of time)

Derivation:

distant (separate or apart in time)

distant (separated in space or coming from or going to a distance)

• DISTANCE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they distance    ... he / she / it distances   
Past simple: distanced   
Past participle: distanced   
-ing form: distancing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Keep at a distance

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Context example:

we have to distance ourselves from these events in order to continue living

Hypernyms (to "distance" is one way to...):

hold; keep; maintain (cause to continue in a certain state, position, or activity; e.g., 'keep clean')

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

distance (indifference by personal withdrawal)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Go far ahead of

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

distance; outdistance; outstrip

Context example:

He outdistanced the other runners

Hypernyms (to "distance" is one way to...):

leave behind (depart and not take along)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

 Context examples 

So he says, but he had been two hours in the public-house, and it is some distance from the road to the window.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Each time that I saw it I was some distance away from it, so that it is impossible for me to say.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

For the distance of twenty feet Wolf watched him go, himself all eagerness and expectancy, as though waiting for the man to turn and retrace his steps.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

But the letter had also a greater distance to come.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

One afternoon he saw her mother coming out of a bank, and received another proof of the enormous distance that separated Ruth from him.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

This island was at a greater distance than I expected, and I did not reach it in less than five hours.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

You will enjoy romance when traveling short distances.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Of course, what it gave us in power we paid for in distance; as many times as it doubled my strength, that many times was doubled the length of rope I heaved in.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

But here was a dog that kept at a distance, dancing and dodging here and there and all about.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

It seems to me, at this distance of time, as if my unfortunate studies generally took this course.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)