socially distance

verb

socially distanced; socially distancing; socially distances

transitive verb

1

: to cause (oneself) to avoid social interaction with an individual or individuals perceived as different from oneself or as belonging to a social group other than one's own

Her community practices a cultural tradition of socially distancing widows, but … a mental health experiment instead brings widows together.

—Leo Barraclough

Nearly half of respondents indicated they would be very or somewhat likely to socially distance themselves from an individual with major depressive disorder.

—Tiffany M. Greene-Shortridge et al.

2

medical : to distance (oneself) physically from other people or avoid any unnecessary contact with others during the outbreak of a contagious disease in order to minimize exposure and reduce the transmission of infection : physically distance

At Georgia Tech, more than 200 students have come down with flu-like symptoms and five have been confirmed as having swine flu. … Tech has not instituted a quarantine, although ailing students have been advised to socially distance themselves from other students.

—Kristina Torres

The advent of Virtual Private Networks (VPN) and other data security measures that allow people to work from home when needed is insulating some businesses during this crisis as well. … [Rob] Arnold said that socially distancing ourselves in that way really offers a way to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace.

—John Joyce

Examples of socially distance in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

And on the red carpet, the star did try to socially distance from his cast, which included Laura Dern (as Jay Kelly’s publicist Liz), Billy Crudup (his childhood friend) and Riley Keough (his daughter). —Ramin Setoodeh, Variety, 28 Aug. 2025

Over the course of 50+ shows, Chappelle, supported by his wife Elaine, collaborated with his neighbors to create a prototype for comedy shows in the open air with attendees socially distanced and wearing masks. —Ronda Racha Penrice, HollywoodReporter, 9 Aug. 2025

The musicians at Bird Park were socially distanced. —George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 June 2025

Just like physical pain tells us to move our hand off a hot stove, psychological pain tells us to emotionally or socially distance ourselves from people who might harm our goals or well-being. —Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 12 May 2025

Staff Pick: Do socially distanced hens lay more affordable eggs? —Elizabeth Robinson, NBC News, 6 Mar. 2025

The Salt Lake City audience was socially distanced and masked, Pence and Harris sat 12 feet apart yet still had two plexiglass dividers placed between them, and more than 15 minutes passed before Page asked her first non-COVID-19 question. —Haisten Willis, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 14 Aug. 2024

Although Kardashian Barker, 45, and her husband Travis Barker, 48, tested positive for COVID ahead of the party, the two were able to join by socially distancing outside. —Hannah Sacks, Peoplemag, 23 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1980, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for socially distance

• assistance
• consistence
• desistance
• existence
• insistence
• persistence
• resistance
• subsistence
• coexistence
• nonexistence
• magnetoresistance