distant
adjectivecommon in dialogue
- Australia//ˈdɪstənt//
Far off (physically, logically or mentally).
adjective
- 1
Far off (physically, logically or mentally).
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.
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.
Ever since our argument, she has been totally distant toward me.
- 3
Imported into a cable television system from a different market (and thus possibly incurring a copyright royalty).
Any determination that a particular television signal is "distant" must, of course, be made with respect to its proximity to a specific local area, which we have termed the CATV community, […]
Finally, there will be those unusual situations where a signal is distant to part of a CATV system and local to the rest of it.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ Proto-Indo-European *d(w)is- Proto-Italic *dis- Latin dis- Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁ti Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁yeti Proto-Indo-European *sth₂éh₁yeti Proto-Italic *staējō Proto-Italic *staēō Latin stō Latin distō Latin distānsder. Old French distantbor. Middle English distaunt English distant Inherited from Middle English distaunt, from Old French distant, from Latin distāns.
Forms
- comparative
- more distant
- superlative
- most distant
distant · Far off (physically, logically or mentally).
distinct · Capable of being perceived very clearly.distinction · That which distinguishes; a single occurrence of a…distinctive · Distinguishing, used to or enabling the distinguishing of…