Distant means far away. A distant hill gone blue with haze, the distant sound of a train at night, a distant cousin you have met twice, both times at funerals.
Time works like space here: the distant past, the distant future, a distant memory that will not sharpen up. Family stretches the same way — a distant relative is far off on the family tree, not far off in miles. The use learners miss is the one about people: someone distant is cool and closed, in the room but not in it, as in 'he was polite but distant'. A distant look means the eyes are aimed at nothing at all. The noun is distance and the adverb is distantly — distantly related, distantly aware of a noise upstairs.
1adjectivedistantFar away in space.
“From the ferry the island was a distant grey line.”
2adjectivetimeFar away in time.
“The war felt distant to anyone born after it.”
synonyms: remote
4adjectivealoofCold and unfriendly; present but not emotionally engaged.
“Since the funeral he has been distant with everyone.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
Also accepted in games: remote, faraway
Distant walked into Middle English as distaunt, borrowed from Old French distant, which had it from Latin distāns. The spelling later drifted back towards the Latin; the meaning barely moved at all, and distance stands beside it from the same source.
Latin
distāns
Old French
distant
Middle English
distaunt
English, today
distant
From Middle English distaunt, from Old French distant, from Latin distāns. Middle English distaunt, from Old French distant, from Latin distāns.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA