Word.ws English Dictionary

keeping one's distance

keeping one's distance is the present participle and gerund of keep one's distance.

Meaning of keep one's distance

Verb

keep one's distance (third-person singular simple present keeps one's distance, present participle keeping one's distance, simple past and past participle kept one's distance)

  1. (intransitive) To refrain from familiarity with somebody or something; to stay aloof.

Questions about keeping one's distance

What is keeping one's distance the present participle and gerund of?
Keeping one's distance is the present participle and gerund of keep one's distance.

Words near keeping one's distance in the dictionary

  1. keeping one's chapels
  2. keeping one's chin up
  3. keeping one's cool
  4. keeping one's counsel
  5. keeping one's countenance
  6. keeping one's distance
  7. keeping one's ears open
  8. keeping one's end up
  9. keeping one's eye on the ball
  10. keeping one's eyeballs peeled
  11. keeping one's eyes on the ball

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: keeping one's distance (page history and authors); keep one's distance (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “keeping one's distance.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/keeping_one%27s_distance. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.