distance
/ˈdɪst(ə)n(t)s/ verb C2- Often followed by from: to set (someone or something) at a distance (noun sense 1.1) from someone or something else.
- To cause (a place, a thing, etc.) to seem distant, or (figurative) unfamiliar.
- To leave behind (someone or something moving in the same direction; specifically, other competitors in a race) some distance away; to outpace, to outstrip.
- To keep (someone) emotionally or socially apart from another person or people.
- To exceed or surpass (someone, such as a peer or rival); to outdo, to outstrip.
- To keep (oneself) away from someone or something, especially because one does not want to be associated with that person or thing. · He distanced himself from the comments made by some of his colleagues.
- To set oneself at a distance from someone or something else; to move away from someone or something.
- To keep oneself emotionally or socially apart from another person or people; to keep one's distance.
Plural distance · He/she/it distances · Past distanced · Past participle distanced · -ing form distancing
Verb forms
- Base form
- distance
- He/she/it
- distances
- Past
- distanced
- Past participle
- distanced
- -ing form
- distancing
From the library
Let what may remain of revolutionary sap exhaust itself and die away with the old trunk, and condescend only to regard the young shoot which has started up at a distance from the parent tree, without having the power, any more than the wish, to separate entirely from the stock from which it sprung.”
“I think I could jump over it,” said the Cowardly Lion, after measuring the distance carefully in his mind.
The flowers had been too strong for the huge beast and he had given up at last, and fallen only a short distance from the end of the poppy bed, where the sweet grass spread in beautiful green fields before them.
So he kept a good distance away from the flames, and only came near to cover Dorothy with dry leaves when she lay down to sleep.
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