| English Dictionary |
DISTANT
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| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does distant mean?
• DISTANT (adjective)
The adjective DISTANT has 5 senses:
1. separated in space or coming from or going to a distance
2. far apart in relevance or relationship or kinship
3. remote in manner
4. separate or apart in time
5. located far away spatially
Familiarity information: DISTANT used as an adjective is common.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
Separated in space or coming from or going to a distance
Context example:
a distant telephone call
Similar:
deep (very distant in time or space)
extreme (most distant in any direction)
far-flung (remote)
long-distance (covering a long distance)
nonadjacent (not adjacent; not next)
out-of-town (happening in or being of another town or city)
yon; yonder (distant but within sight ('yon' is dialectal))
Also:
far (located at a great distance in time or space or degree)
Attribute:
distance (the property created by the space between two objects or points)
Antonym:
close (at or within a short distance in space or time or having elements near each other)
Derivation:
distance (a remote point in time)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Far apart in relevance or relationship or kinship
Synonyms:
distant; remote
Context example:
considerations entirely removed (or remote) from politics
Similar:
faraway (far removed mentally)
loosely knit (having only distant social or legal ties)
removed (separated in relationship by a given degree of descent)
ulterior (beyond or outside an area of immediate interest; remote)
Antonym:
close (close in relevance or relationship)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Remote in manner
Synonyms:
Context example:
he was upstage with strangers
Similar:
reserved (marked by self-restraint and reticence)
Derivation:
distance (indifference by personal withdrawal)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Separate or apart in time
Synonyms:
Context example:
the remote past or future
Similar:
far (located at a great distance in time or space or degree)
Derivation:
distance (the interval between two times)
distance (a remote point in time)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Located far away spatially
Synonyms:
distant; remote
Context example:
remote stars
Similar:
far (located at a great distance in time or space or degree)
Derivation:
distance (the property created by the space between two objects or points)
Context examples
This new moon will light your ninth house of distant travel, so you may take an important trip or talk on the phone a great deal with executives abroad.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
The team, developed a new technique that uses both local and distant earthquake data from the University of Utah Seismograph Stations and the EarthScope array of seismometers.
(Yellowstone magma discovery, NSF)
Because light from the galaxy hosting the black hole has traveled 12.5 billion years to reach us, astronomers are seeing the object as it was in the distant past.
(The Most Luminous Galaxy in Universe, NASA)
The team targeted eight powerful and distant cosmic "streetlights," called quasars (regions around active black holes that emit enormous amounts of light).
(Cosmic Magnifying Glasses Find Dark Matter in Small Clumps, NASA)
Neptune's dark vortices are high-pressure systems and are usually accompanied by bright "companion clouds," which are also now visible on the distant planet.
(Hubble Imagery Confirms New Dark Spot on Neptune, NASA)
Recently, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and Virgo gravitational wave detectors have begun to catch ripples in spacetime caused by collisions of black holes in distant galaxies.
(Unpredicted stellar black hole discovered by astronomers, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
It is too distant to be considered a true satellite of our planet, but it is the best and most stable example to date of a near-Earth companion, or "quasi-satellite."
(Small Asteroid Is Earth's Constant Companion, NASA)
Because all supermassive black holes are so distant, gravitational waves, which travel at the speed of light, take a long time to arrive at Earth.
(Listening for Gravitational Waves Using Pulsars, NASA)
So, is the X-ray glow that fills the sky a sign of peaceful "charge exchange" in the solar system or evidence of terrifying explosions in the distant past?
(Evidence for supernovas near Earth, NASA)
Instead, the team thinks the nitrates are ancient, and likely came from non-biological processes like meteorite impacts and lightning in Mars' distant past.
(Curiosity Rover Finds Biologically Useful Nitrogen on Mars, NASA)
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