aloof
- 01 C1 Advanced
to stay away from a situation or a group of people.
at a distance, either physically or in terms of involvement. Often used with the verb 'stand'.
Simple“During the argument, she stood aloof and refused to take sides.”
In context“While the other children played boisterously in the park, the new student stood aloof, watching them with a mixture of curiosity and hesitation.”
UsageCommonly follows the verb 'stand' or 'keep'.
“The woman who once seemed almost comically aloof has become increasingly willing to show the person behind the brand.”
From Middle English loof (“weather gage, windward direction”), probably from Middle Dutch (Compare Dutch loef (“the weather side of a ship”)), originally a nautical order to keep the ship's head to the wind, thus to stay clear of a lee-shore or some other quarter, hence the figurative sense of "at a distance, apart".
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.