Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
Note: 'Far' has two comparatives, '~ther' and 'further', and two superlatives, '~thest' and 'furthest'. 'Farther' and '~thest' are used mainly in sense 1, and are dealt with here. 'Further' and 'furthest' are dealt with in separate entries.
1.
If one place, thing, or person is ~ away from another, there is a great distance between them.
I know a nice little Italian restaurant not ~ from here...
They came from as ~ away as Florida...
Both of my sisters moved even ~ther away from home...
They lay in the cliff top grass with the sea stretching out ~ below...
Is it ~?
? near
ADV: ADV after v, v-link ADV, usu ADV prep/adv
2.
If you ask how ~ a place is, you are asking what distance it is from you or from another place. If you ask how ~ someone went, you are asking what distance they travelled, or what place they reached.
How ~ is Pawtucket from Providence?...
How ~ is it to Malcy?...
How ~ can you throw?...
You can only judge how high something is when you know how ~ away it is...
She followed the tracks as ~ as the road.
ADV: how ADV, as/so ADV as , ADV compar than
3.
When there are two things of the same kind in a place, the ~ one is the one that is a greater distance from you.
He had wandered to the ~ end of the room...
? near
ADJ: ADJ n
4.
You can use ~ to refer to the part of an area or object that is the greatest distance from the centre in a particular direction. For example, the ~ north of a country is the part of it that is the greatest distance to the north.
I wrote the date at the ~ left of the blackboard.
ADJ: ADJ n
5.
A time or event that is ~ away in the future or the past is a long time from the present or from a particular point in time.
...hidden conflicts whose roots lie ~ back in time...
I can’t see any ~ther than the next six months...
The first day of term, which seemed so ~ away at the start of the summer holidays, is looming.
ADV: ADV after v, v-link ADV, usu ADV adv/prep
6.
You can use ~ to talk about the extent or degree to which something happens or is true.
How ~ did the film tell the truth about Barnes Wallis?...
ADV: ADV with v, usu how ADV
7.
You can talk about how ~ someone or something gets to describe the progress that they make.
Discussions never progressed very ~...
Think of how ~ we have come in a little time...
I don’t think Mr Cavanagh would get ~ with that trick.
ADV: ADV with v, oft how ADV
8.
You can talk about how ~ a person or action goes to describe the degree to which someone’s behaviour or actions are extreme.
It’s still not clear how ~ the Russian parliament will go to implement its own plans...
This time he’s gone too ~.
ADV: ADV with v
9.
You can use ~ to mean ‘very much’ when you are comparing two things and emphasizing the difference between them. For example, you can say that something is ~ better or ~ worse than something else to indicate that it is very much better or worse. You can also say that something is, for example, ~ too big to indicate that it is very much too big.
Women who eat plenty of fresh vegetables are ~ less likely to suffer anxiety or depression...
The police say the response has been ~ better than expected...
These trials are simply taking ~ too long...
ADV: usu ADV compar, ADV too adj/adv, also ADV adv/prep emphasis
10.
You can describe people with extreme left-wing or right-wing political views as the ~ left or the ~ right.
Anti-racist campaigners are urging the Government to ban all ~-Right groups.
= extreme
ADJ: ADJ n
11.
You can use ~ in expressions like ‘as ~ as I know’ and ‘so ~ as I remember’ to indicate that you are not absolutely sure of the statement you are about to make or have just made, and you may be wrong.
It only lasted a couple of years, as ~ as I know...
So ~ as I am aware, no proper investigation has ever been carried out into the subject.
ADV: as/so ADV as vagueness
12.
You use the expression ~ and away when you are comparing something or someone with others of the same kind, in order to emphasize how great the difference is between them. For example, you can say that something is ~ and away the best to indicate that it is definitely the best.
He’s still ~ and away the best we have.
= easily
PHRASE: PHR the adj-superl emphasis
13.
You use the expression by ~ when you are comparing something or someone with others of the same kind, in order to emphasize how great the difference is between them. For example, you can say that something is by ~ the best or the best by ~ to indicate that it is definitely the best.
By ~ the most important issue for them is unemployment...
It was better by ~ to be clear-headed.
PHRASE: PHR with compar/superl emphasis
14.
If you say that something is ~ from a particular thing or ~ from being the case, you are emphasizing that it is not that particular thing or not at all the case, especially when people expect or assume that it is.
It was obvious that much of what they recorded was ~ from the truth...
Far from being relaxed, we both felt so uncomfortable we hardly spoke...
It is still ~ from clear exactly what the Thais intend to do.
PHRASE: PHR n/-ing/adj, oft v-link PHR emphasis
15.
You can use the expression ‘~ from it’ to emphasize a negative statement that you have just made.
Being dyslexic does not mean that one is unintelligent. Far from it.
PHRASE emphasis
16.
You say ~ be it from me to disagree, or ~ be it from me to criticize, when you are disagreeing or criticizing and you want to appear less hostile.
Far be it from me to criticise, but shouldn’t their mother take a share of the blame?
PHRASE: PHR to-inf
17.
If you say that something is good as ~ as it goes or true so ~ as it goes, you mean that it is good or true only to a limited extent.
His plan for tax relief is fine as ~ as it goes but will not be sufficient to get the economy moving again.
PHRASE: PHR with cl
18.
If you say that someone will go ~, you mean that they will be very successful in their career.
I was very impressed with the talent of Michael Ball. He will go ~.
PHRASE
19.
Someone or something that is ~ gone is in such a bad state or condition that not much can be done to help or improve them.
In his last few days the pain seemed to have stopped, but by then he was so ~ gone that it was no longer any comfort...
Many of the properties are in a desperate state but none is too ~ gone to save.
PHRASE: v-link PHR
20.
Someone or something that is not ~ wrong, not ~ out, or not ~ off is almost correct or almost accurate.
I hadn’t been ~ wrong in my estimate...
Robertson is not ~ off her target.
PHRASE: v-link PHR, oft PHR in n
21.
You can use the expression ‘as ~ as I can see’ when you are about to state your opinion of a situation, or have just stated it, to indicate that it is your personal opinion.
As ~ as I can see there are only two reasons for such an action.
PHRASE: PHR with cl
22.
If you say that something only goes so ~ or can only go so ~, you mean that its extent, effect, or influence is limited.
Their loyalty only went so ~...
The church can only go so ~ in secular matters.
PHRASE: PHR after v
23.
If you tell or ask someone what has happened so ~, you are telling or asking them what has happened up until the present point in a situation or story, and often implying that something different might happen later.
It’s been quiet so ~...
So ~, they have met with no success...
PHRASE: PHR with cl
24.
You can say so ~ so good to express satisfaction with the way that a situation or activity is progressing, developing, or happening.
PHRASE feelings
25.
If people come from ~ and wide, they come from a large number of places, some of them ~ away. If things spread ~ and wide, they spread over a very large area or distance. (WRITTEN)
Volunteers came from ~ and wide...
His fame spread ~ and wide.
PHRASE: from PHR, PHR after v
26.
If you say that someone won’t go ~ wrong or can’t go ~ wrong with a particular thing or course of action, you mean that it is likely to be successful or satisfactory.
If you remember these three golden rules you won’t go ~ wrong.
PHRASE
27.
as ~ as I am concerned: see concern
a ~ cry from: see cry
in so ~ as: see inso~ as
near and ~: see near