APART, AWAY

APART, AWAY

If two people or things are apart, there is a distance between them. You can also use apart to say what the distance between them is. For example, they might be three metres apart or fifty centimetres apart. You use apart when you are thinking about people or things together or as a unit, although there is a distance between them.

1. Stand with your feet just slightly apart.
2. I was sitting somewhat apart from the rest.
3. 300 black women got together from places as far apart as Birmingham, Brighton and Leeds.
4. Main crop potatoes should be planted 14 inches (35 cm) apart.

If something is away from another person or thing, it is at a distance from them. You can also use away to say what the distance between them is. For example, if something is two kilometres away, you mean that it is two kilometres from yourself or from somewhere you have mentioned. You use away when you are thinking about the people or things separately and not as a unit.

5. I have to inspect a building in a little village away from the main roads.
6. Fleet Street is only a few yards away.
7. And there, some twenty miles away, was the Central Tower of Paine.

*If you say that someone is away, you mean that they are not at work or not at school because they are ill or on holiday.