Definition of "distance" []

• The extent of space between two objects or places; an intervening space. (noun)
• The fact or condition of being apart in space; remoteness. (noun)
• Mathematics The length or numerical value of a straight line or curve. (noun)
• The extent of space between points on a measured course. (noun)
• The length of a race, especially of a horserace. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Coulomb, a Frenchman, is the author of a system of measurements of the electric current, and he it was who discovered that the action of electricity varies, not with the distance, but, like gravity, _in the inverse ratio of the square of the distance_."
• "As the distance from the horizon to the zenith is 90°, the difference, or _complement_ of the altitude, is called the _zenith distance_, or _co-altitude_."
• "Thus in the case of any electrified body, acting on an unelectrified body at a distance, it has to be definitely understood that _the action at a distance_ is alone communicated and propagated by the dielectric or medium which exists between the two bodies."