remote Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a device that can be used to control a machine or apparatus from a distance
    remote control.
    • he lost the remote for his TV
  2. adjective satellite located far away spatially
    distant.
    • distant lands
    • remote stars
  3. adjective satellite very unlikely
    outside.
    • an outside chance
    • a remote possibility
    • a remote contingency
  4. adjective satellite separate or apart in time
    removed; distant.
    • distant events
    • the remote past or future
  5. adjective satellite inaccessible and sparsely populated;
    outback.
  6. adjective far apart in relevance or relationship or kinship
    distant.
    • a distant cousin
    • a remote relative
    • a distant likeness
    • considerations entirely removed (or remote) from politics

WordNet

Re*mote" adjective
Etymology
L. remotus, p. p. of removere to remove. See Remove.
Wordforms
comparative Remoter superlative Remotest
Definitions
  1. Removed to a distance; not near; far away; distant; -- said in respect to time or to place; as, remote ages; remote lands.
    Places remote enough are in Bohemia. Shak.
    Remote from men, with God he passed his days. Parnell.
  2. Hence, removed; not agreeing, according, or being related; -- in various figurative uses. Specifically: (a) Not agreeing; alien; foreign. "All these propositions, how remote soever from reason." Locke. (b) Not nearly related; not close; as, a remote connection or consanguinity. (c) Separate; abstracted. "Wherever the mind places itself by any thought, either amongst, or remote from, all bodies." Locke. (d) Not proximate or acting directly; primary; distant. "From the effect to the remotest cause." Granville. (e) Not obvious or sriking; as, a remote resemblance.
  3. (Bot.) Separated by intervals greater than usual. -- Re*mote"ly, adv. -- Re*mote"ness, n.

Webster 1913