distance
n. C / Un. the amount of space between two points, places, or things. You can measure it in meters, miles, or other units.
n. the extent of space between two points, places, or objects. It can also refer to a remoteness in relationship or time.
The distance to the station is two miles.
The long distance between them made their relationship difficult to maintain.
Over time, a noticeable emotional distance grew between the old friends, marked by shorter phone calls and a reluctance to share personal news.
From Middle English distance, distaunce, destance (“disagreement, dispute; discrimination; armed conflict; hostility; trouble; space between two points; time interval”), from Anglo-Norman distance, distaunce, destance, Middle French distance, and Old French destance, destaunce, distaunce (“debate; difference, distinction; discord, quarrel; dispute; space between two points; time interval”) (modern French distance), and directly from their etymon Latin distantia (“difference, diversity; distance, remoteness; space between two points”) (whence also Late Latin distantia (“disagreement; discrepancy; gap, opening; time interval”)), from distāns (“being distant; standing apart”) + -ia (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). Distāns is the present active participle of distō (“to be distant; to stand apart; to differ”), from dis- (prefix meaning ‘apart, asunder; in two’) + stō (“to stand”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand (up)”)). The verb is derived from the noun. Cognates * Middle Dutch distancie, distantie (modern Dutch distantie); Dutch afstand (“distance”, literally “off-stand, off-stance”) * German Distanz; German Abstand * Italian distanza * Portuguese distância * Spanish distancia
Uncountable when referring to the general concept of space ('What is the distance?'). Countable when referring to a specific length or journey ('a short distance').
The village is distance.The village is distant.Learners sometimes use the noun 'distance' where the adjective 'distant' is required to describe something as being far away.