distancer

English

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

English distance

Proto-Indo-European *-yósder.

Proto-Italic *-āzijos

Latin -āriusnom.

Latin -āriusbor.

Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz

Proto-West Germanic *-ārī

Old English -ere

Middle English -ere

English -er

English distancer

From distance (verb) + -er.

Noun

distancer (plural distancers)

1. (psychology) A person who tends to maintain emotional distance and detachment.

   Coordinate term: pursuer

   • 1990, Susan H. McDaniel et al., Family-Oriented Primary Care‎^[1], →ISBN, page 171:

     Pursuers are more likely than distancers to seek help from a professional, such as a physician.

2. A means for establishing physical or emotional distance.
   • 2008 December 14, Ben Ratliff, “Critic's Choice: New CDs”, in The New York Times‎^[2]:

     The band’s third album, “When the World Comes Down,” isn’t striking obscure poses, inventing slang or playing with the audience through distancers like tension and distortion.

Etymology 2

Etymology tree

English distance

Proto-Indo-European *-yósder.

Proto-Italic *-āzijos

Latin -āriusnom.

Latin -āriusbor.

Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz

Proto-West Germanic *-ārī

Old English -ere

Middle English -ere

English -er

English distancer

From distance (noun) + -er.

Noun

distancer (plural distancers)

1. (dated) A long-distance runner.

   Synonym: long distancer

   • 1921 August 22, “Paulist Distancer Triumphs in Two-Mile Race”, in The New York Times‎^[3], page 16:

     Phillips was one of a field of a dozen distancers who started in the twomile handicap run which featured the games of the Friend's of Irish Freedom at Ulmer Park, Brooklyn.

Anagrams

• dicentras, rancidest

Danish

Noun

distancer c

1. indefinite plural of distance

Verb

distancer or distancér

1. imperative of distancere

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English distance +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dis.tɑ̃.se/

• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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• Audio (France (Somain)):

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Verb

distancer

1. (transitive) to distance, outdistance

Conjugation

This verb is part of a group of -er verbs for which 'c' is softened to a 'ç' before the vowels 'a' and 'o'.

Conjugation of distancer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	distancer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	distançant /dis.tɑ̃.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		distancé /dis.tɑ̃.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	distance /dis.tɑ̃s/	distances /dis.tɑ̃s/	distance /dis.tɑ̃s/	distançons /dis.tɑ̃.sɔ̃/	distancez /dis.tɑ̃.se/	distancent /dis.tɑ̃s/
	imperfect	distançais /dis.tɑ̃.sɛ/	distançais /dis.tɑ̃.sɛ/	distançait /dis.tɑ̃.sɛ/	distancions /dis.tɑ̃.sjɔ̃/	distanciez /dis.tɑ̃.sje/	distançaient /dis.tɑ̃.sɛ/
	past historic2	distançai /dis.tɑ̃.se/	distanças /dis.tɑ̃.sa/	distança /dis.tɑ̃.sa/	distançâmes /dis.tɑ̃.sam/	distançâtes /dis.tɑ̃.sat/	distancèrent /dis.tɑ̃.sɛʁ/
	future	distancerai /dis.tɑ̃.sʁe/	distanceras /dis.tɑ̃.sʁa/	distancera /dis.tɑ̃.sʁa/	distancerons /dis.tɑ̃.sʁɔ̃/	distancerez /dis.tɑ̃.sʁe/	distanceront /dis.tɑ̃.sʁɔ̃/
	conditional	distancerais /dis.tɑ̃.sʁɛ/	distancerais /dis.tɑ̃.sʁɛ/	distancerait /dis.tɑ̃.sʁɛ/	distancerions /dis.tɑ̃.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	distanceriez /dis.tɑ̃.sə.ʁje/	distanceraient /dis.tɑ̃.sʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	distance /dis.tɑ̃s/	distances /dis.tɑ̃s/	distance /dis.tɑ̃s/	distancions /dis.tɑ̃.sjɔ̃/	distanciez /dis.tɑ̃.sje/	distancent /dis.tɑ̃s/
	imperfect2	distançasse /dis.tɑ̃.sas/	distançasses /dis.tɑ̃.sas/	distançât /dis.tɑ̃.sa/	distançassions /dis.tɑ̃.sa.sjɔ̃/	distançassiez /dis.tɑ̃.sa.sje/	distançassent /dis.tɑ̃.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	distance /dis.tɑ̃s/	—	distançons /dis.tɑ̃.sɔ̃/	distancez /dis.tɑ̃.se/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Further reading

• “distancer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012