social distancing

noun

medical

: the practice of maintaining a greater than usual physical distance (such as six feet or more) from other people or of avoiding direct contact with people or objects in public places during the outbreak of a contagious disease in order to minimize exposure and reduce the transmission of infection : physical distancing

San Francisco issued recommendations for social distancing on Friday, advising residents to stay home as much as possible and avoid congregating in large groups.

—Taryn Luna and Melody Gutierrez

Under a new "social distancing" strategy, handshaking could be discouraged, with other, less tactile forms of greeting taking its place.

—Rosa Silverman

The term social distancing may be foreign to some, but the concept is one often practiced during the flu season, said Dora Anne Mills, the state's former top health official and currently chief health improvement officer for MaineHealth.

—Gillian Graham

Examples of social distancing in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Face-to-face interactions became less common amid social distancing protocols and many schools temporarily switched to remote learning. —Kalhan Rosenblatt, NBC news, 18 July 2025

Pedro Pascal plays the mayor who's trying to enforce masking and social distancing, and Joaquin Phoenix is the sheriff who thinks that should all be a choice, not a mandate. —Phil Harrell, NPR, 17 July 2025

Online school and social distancing during lockdowns influenced how people of all ages navigated in-person interactions and awkward social situations. —Rachel Hale, USA Today, 16 July 2025

And when Notre Dame’s defense dropped Clemson tight end Braden Galloway to end it, Book charged the field alongside a student section that abandoned social distancing for a night in November 2020. —Pete Sampson, New York Times, 9 July 2025

Word History

First Known Use

2003, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

social distancing

noun

: the practice of maintaining a greater than usual physical distance (as six feet) from other people or of avoiding direct contact with people or objects in public places during the outbreak of a contagious disease