Library / English Dictionary

DISTANCE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (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:

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

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

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

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

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

span (the distance or interval between two points)

way (the property of distance in general)

piece (a distance)

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)

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

Derivation:

distant (located far away spatially)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Size of the gap between two places

Example:

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

Synonyms:

distance; length

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

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 3

Meaning:

Indifference by personal withdrawal

Example:

emotional distance

Synonyms:

aloofness; distance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

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

indifference (unbiased impartial unconcern)

Derivation:

distance (keep at a distance)

distant (remote in manner)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A distant region

Example:

I could see it in the distance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

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

part; region (the extended spatial location of something)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The interval between two times

Example:

it all happened in the space of 10 minutes

Synonyms:

distance; space

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

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

Example:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

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)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Go far ahead of

Example:

He outdistanced the other runners

Synonyms:

distance; outdistance; outstrip

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

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

leave behind (depart and not take along)

Sentence frames:

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

Sense 2

Meaning:

Keep at a distance

Example:

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

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

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)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Indeed, I can quite understand the effect, for the sounds disturbed even me, though I was some distance away.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

It was a mournful howl, and as Buck held steadily on his way he heard it grow faint and fainter until it was lost in the distance.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Distance is measured in base pairs.

(Physical Map of the Human Genome, NCI Thesaurus)

The size of something as given by the distance around it.

(Perimeter, NCI Thesaurus)

This information can be used to estimate the distance traveled or calories used.

(Pedometer, NCI Thesaurus)

The distance between a point and a fixed reference point; difference between a set point and the actual reading.

(Offset, NCI Thesaurus)

The distance on the imaged subject that corresponds to the width (or the height typically the same as the width) of the smallest piece of the subject that is displayed as a pixel.

(Pixel Size, NCI Thesaurus)

We possessed a house in Geneva, and a campagne on Belrive, the eastern shore of the lake, at the distance of rather more than a league from the city.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Axons extend significant distances to innervate target tissues.

(Neuronal Survival Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

The condition in which the individual does not see far distances clearly.

(Myopia, NCI Thesaurus)