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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

aloof.

At or from a distance, but within view, or at a small distance; apart; away.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adv/əˈluːf/
  1. At or from a distance, but within view, or at a small distance; apart; away.

  2. Without sympathy; unfavorably.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English loof (“weather gage, windward direction”), probably from Middle Dutch (Compare Dutch loef (“the weather side of a ship”)), originally a nautical order to keep the ship's head to the wind, thus to stay clear of a lee-shore or some other quarter, hence the figurative sense of "at a distance, apart".

adj/əˈluːf/
  1. Either physically or emotionally remote: distant, standoffish.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English loof (“weather gage, windward direction”), probably from Middle Dutch (Compare Dutch loef (“the weather side of a ship”)), originally a nautical order to keep the ship's head to the wind, thus to stay clear of a lee-shore or some other quarter, hence the figurative sense of "at a distance, apart".

prep/əˈluːf/
  1. Away from; clear of.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English loof (“weather gage, windward direction”), probably from Middle Dutch (Compare Dutch loef (“the weather side of a ship”)), originally a nautical order to keep the ship's head to the wind, thus to stay clear of a lee-shore or some other quarter, hence the figurative sense of "at a distance, apart".

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.