Phrase guide

social distance

noun · verb · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

The distance between different social groups, e.g. in terms of class, ethnicity, gender-identity, sexual-identity, etc.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: human-sciences, sciences, social-science, sociology

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

An appropriate distance for interactions among acquaintances during epidemics.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

To maintain a certain distance between at least two people to contain the spread of an infectious disease.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

29 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 社會距離 /社会距离 (shèhuì jùlí) — distance between social groups
  • Finnish: sosiaalinen etäisyys — distance between social groups
  • French: espace vital — distance between social groups
  • Georgian: სოციალური მანძილი (socialuri manʒili) — distance between social groups
  • Georgian: სოციალური დისტანცია (socialuri disṭancia) — distance between social groups
  • German: soziale Distanz — distance between social groups
  • Indonesian: pembatasan sosial — distance between social groups
  • Italian: distanza sociale — distance between social groups
  • Northern Kurdish: dûrahiya civakî — distance between social groups
  • Kyrgyz: социалдык аралык (sotsialdık aralık) — distance between social groups
  • Malay: penjarakan sosial — distance between social groups
  • Persian: فاصله اجتماعی — distance between social groups
  • Polish: dystans społeczny — distance between social groups
  • Portuguese: distância social — distance between social groups
  • Serbo-Croatian: социјална дистанца — distance between social groups
  • Ukrainian: соціальна дистанція (socialʹna dystancija) — distance between social groups
  • Vietnamese: khoảng cách xã hội — distance between social groups
  • Vietnamese: sự cách ly xã hội — distance between social groups
  • Danish: social afstand — appropriate distance for interactions among acquaintances during epidemics
  • Danish: social distance — appropriate distance for interactions among acquaintances during epidemics
  • Georgian: პიროვნებათშორისი დისტანცია (ṗirovnebatšorisi disṭancia) — appropriate distance for interactions among acquaintances during epidemics
  • Georgian: სოციალური დისტანცია (socialuri disṭancia) — appropriate distance for interactions among acquaintances during epidemics
  • Malayalam: സാമൂഹിക അകലം (sāmūhika akalaṁ) — appropriate distance for interactions among acquaintances during epidemics
  • Tibetan: སྤྱི་ཚོགས་བར་ཐག (spyi tshogs bar thag) — appropriate distance for interactions among acquaintances during epidemics
  • Tibetan: སྤྱི་ཚོགས་དང་ཐག་རྒྱང་རིང་པོ (spyi tshogs dang thag rgyang ring po) — appropriate distance for interactions among acquaintances during epidemics
  • Turkish: sosyal mesafe — appropriate distance for interactions among acquaintances during epidemics
  • Vietnamese: khoảng cách xã hội — appropriate distance for interactions among acquaintances during epidemics
  • Vietnamese: tạo khoảng cách xã hội — to maintain a certain distance between at least two people to contain the spread of an infectious disease
  • Vietnamese: cách ly xã hội — to maintain a certain distance between at least two people to contain the spread of an infectious disease