at arm's length
At a distance, away from one's bodyAt a distance, away from one's body.
» We discussed the problem at length.
Wir diskutierten lange über dieses Problem. — jakov
Мы детально обсудили проблему. — ashulga
Ми ретельно обговорили проблему. — pinaxe
CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
2 sensesAt a distance, away from one's body.
(idiomatic)Avoiding a close relationship.
She's been keeping me at arm's length all the time. She doesn't want to get involved.
Examples
45 sentencesWe discussed the problem at length.
Ми ретельно обговорили проблему. — pinaxe
ruМы детально обсудили проблему. — ashulga
deWir diskutierten lange über dieses Problem. — jakov
At length, he began to cry.
At length, I found his house.
ruНаконец я нашел его дом. — odexed
deEndlich fand ich sein Haus. — freddy1
He explained the facts at length.
ruОн детально объяснил факты. — sharptoothed
We debated the matter at length.
Translations
4 languagesSee also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.