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distancer

to outpace

verb dees-tahn-SEH Rare
Body & Health Movement

Also means

to leave behind

Usage Note

Distancer means to pull ahead of a competitor or to put distance between oneself and something—le coureur a distancé ses adversaires ('the runner outpaced his opponents'). It takes a spelling change in conjugation: nous distançons (cedilla). To distance oneself from a person or idea, French generally uses se distancier de or prendre ses distances.

Examples

"Le coureur a distancé ses adversaires dans le dernier virage."

Natural Translation

The runner outpaced his opponents on the last bend.

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