How to Use distance in a Sentence

distance

1 of 2 noun
  • The sign was hard to read from a distance.
  • She kept the children a safe distance from the road.
  • The gas station is a short distance away.
  • Speed is measured in time and distance.
  • We followed them at a distance.
  • She feels a distance from her brother that wasn't there before.
  • What is the distance between the Earth and the Sun?
  • He wants to put distance between himself and his former boss.
  • Although they were once good friends, there was now considerable distance between them.
  • And some gaze on from a distance away.
    — Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News, 18 June 2026
  • And, for a time, some strangers did keep their distance.
    — Tom Bartlett, The Atlantic, 21 May 2026
  • Mount Yotei looms above it all in the distance.
    — Gieson Cacho, Mercury News, 26 Sep. 2025
  • Was the distance record ever a big deal to you?
    — Stephen Clark, ArsTechnica, 25 Apr. 2026
  • People who had seen death up close kept their distance.
    — Caleb Crain, Harpers Magazine, 24 Mar. 2026
  • People seem to keep their distance from you.
    — Adrienne Lapidos, The Conversation, 18 Mar. 2026
  • This isn’t just content to watch from a distance.
    — Zack Sharf, Variety, 16 Apr. 2026
  • Bears like to keep their distance from groups of people.
    — Mike Stunson, Kansas City Star, 4 Sep. 2025
  • Bears like to keep their distance from groups of people.
    — Allison Gibson, Sacbee.com, 15 May 2026
  • Bears like to keep their distance from groups of people.
    — Sacbee.com, 25 Feb. 2026
  • Bears like to keep their distance from groups of people.
    — Lauren Liebhaber, Kansas City Star, 3 Oct. 2025
  • Leave plenty of distance ahead of you.
    — Ca Weather Bot, Sacbee.com, 28 Jan. 2026
  • There’s only a flash of her long walk, shot from a great distance.
    — Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2025
  • In the distance, low clouds hung and lightning flashed.
    — Lauren Mascarenhas, CNN Money, 6 June 2026
  • The victim lived a short distance away.
    — Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times, 28 Jan. 2026
  • In fact, the stakes were distance markers.
    — Caity Weaver, The Atlantic, 8 Oct. 2025
  • The distance doesn’t make either less valid.
    — R. Eric Thomas, Mercury News, 29 Jan. 2026
  • Sometimes, tourists may watch at a distance.
    — Diaa Hadid, NPR, 5 Sep. 2025
  • These are distances hard to fathom.
    — Ernie Cowan, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Apr. 2026
  • That's just caused a little distance.
    — Melody Chiu, PEOPLE, 21 Jan. 2026
  • That’s just caused a little distance.
    — Lexy Perez, HollywoodReporter, 21 Jan. 2026

distance

2 of 2 verb
  • But that doesn’t mean Cruise has distanced himself from the church.
    — Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 5 Apr. 2026
  • Shook distanced herself from the effort and called for the co-chairs to step down.
    — Charles Duhigg, New Yorker, 26 Jan. 2026
  • But to distance yourself from the football club, from your team-mates, from the fans?
    — Zak Garner-Purkis, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2025
  • In recent years, changes in the game have distanced it even further from writing.
    — Thomas Swick september 5, Literary Hub, 5 Sep. 2025
  • The Rays distanced themselves from their one-time face of the franchise.
    — Kristie Ackert, Orlando Sentinel, 1 Jan. 2024
  • Since then, the brewery moved to distance itself from Brigham.
    — Charlotte Observer, 12 Mar. 2026
  • And Democrats are racing to distance themselves from him.
    — The Hill Staff, The Hill, 15 Apr. 2026
  • Lawyers for Centene then tried to distance their clients from the agreement, records show.
    — Lawrence Mower, Miami Herald, 3 Oct. 2025
  • Some shelters have distanced themselves from the no-kill movement.
    — Amber Gaudet, Charlotte Observer, 12 Mar. 2026
  • Freud was hardly the first artist to try to distance himself from part of his own history.
    — Daniel Cassady, ARTnews.com, 2 June 2026
  • King Charles and Prince William have distanced themselves from him.
    — Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 25 Feb. 2026
  • My daughter acted poorly and distanced herself from one of her good friends.
    — Judith Martin, Mercury News, 18 Oct. 2025
  • Trump has tried to distance himself from his past with Epstein in recent years.
    — Meredith Kile, PEOPLE, 20 Oct. 2025
  • In its aftermath, the school has sought to distance itself from the shooting.
    — Billy Witz, New York Times, 15 Mar. 2023
  • And there are reports that his daughters are trying to distance themselves from him.
    — Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 12 May 2026
  • After Sun was charged, Wang tried to distance herself from him.
    — Tom Wait, CBS News, 18 Feb. 2026
  • The White House distanced the president from her claims.
    — Mark Leibovich, The Atlantic, 31 Jan. 2026
  • At the time, Hilton’s rep attempted to distance her from the tabloid scandal.
    — Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 16 Jan. 2024
  • Maddox isn’t the first of the couple’s kids to take firm steps to distance himself from Pitt.
    — Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 18 Mar. 2026
  • Maddox isn’t the first of Brad’s children to distance themselves from him.
    — Jason Pham, StyleCaster, 26 Feb. 2026
  • Others sought to distance themselves from the actions of Hamas.
    — Miriam Jordan, New York Times, 12 Oct. 2023
  • The next move was for Tate to distance himself from the notion of webcam work.
    — Heidi Blake, New Yorker, 8 June 2026
  • These are not the first companies to distance themselves from the actor in recent weeks.
    — Philip Ellis, Men's Health, 19 Apr. 2023
  • The project steals the landmark album’s lyrics, but then distances itself from hip-hop with a corny new name and title.
    — Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 23 Oct. 2025
  • City officials quickly moved to distance themselves from the raid.
    — Alexandra Koch , Greg Wehner , Cb Cotton, FOXNews.com, 22 Oct. 2025
  • And performance is always at least a bit distancing.
    — Julie Beck, The Atlantic, 16 Oct. 2025
  • Schnieder is not alone in his calls for fellow Democrats to distance themselves from Piker.
    — Grace Gilson, Sun Sentinel, 31 Mar. 2026
  • The move was condemned by Israel, and Unilever distanced itself from it.
    — ABC News, 14 Apr. 2026
  • And perhaps the letter writer needs to distance themselves from these people.
    — Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 12 Nov. 2023
  • Weidel has not used this rhetoric herself but has refused to distance herself from party figures who do.
    — Nick Tabor, Encyclopedia Britannica, 8 May 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'distance.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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