Remote

Part of speech: adjective, noun

Pronunciation: [ɹɪˈməʊt]

Definitions

1. Far away in location or time ; lacking close relationship or connection ; operated or managed from a distance
2. Situated far apart physically or chronologically ; having little direct association or relevance ; controlled without being physically present
3. Located at a considerable distance ; only slightly related or involved ; directed or operated by means of a distance control system

Etymology: The adjective "remote" arrived in English from Old French "remot," which itself came from Latin "remotus," the past participle of "removere," meaning "to remove." Its roots are "re-," meaning back or away, and "movere," meaning to move, so the word's core idea is something moved back or pushed away from the speaker. That spatial sense of distance survives unchanged in the modern meaning of "far away," which makes this one of the more transparent words in the English vocabulary. The English word was first recorded in Middle English, and it came in through the medieval French vocabulary that flowed into the language after the Norman period. Its earliest English meanings were not limited to distance in space: the word could describe something separated in time or in kinship, and that wider sense of being removed from the present or from close relation still lingers in phrases like "a remote ancestor" or "a remote chance."

Synonyms: distant, far-off, isolated, removed, secluded

Antonyms: near, close, immediate, proximate, local