far

Etymology

From Middle English ferre, fer, Old English feor, feorr, from Proto-Germanic *ferrai.

adj

1. Distant; remote in space.
   He went to a far land.
   Tsiolkas's Europe, as voraciously predatory as his own undead protagonist, is a far cry from the fount of idealistic humanism dreamed up by generations of both pre- and post-Enlightenment politicians and philosophers, a Europe defined by its durable capacity for civility in an otherwise barbarous world. 2009, Graham Huggan, Ian Law, Racism Postcolonialism Europe, page 1
2. Remote in time.
   the far future
3. Long.
   I have such a long way to go but yet I have come such a far piece already 2011, Peggy Woods, Ramblings from a Soul, page 42
4. More remote of two.
   See those two mountains? The ogre lives on the far one.
   He moved to the far end of the state. She remained at this end.
5. Extreme, as measured from some central or neutral position.
   They are on the far right on this issue.
   He was withdrawn to such a far degree that it required of Piers and Jude a good deal of occasional conferencing between the two of them, in private. 2010, William Alexander Patterson, 4th, The City Is served Bartholomew! to the American Prison!, page 118
6. Extreme, as a difference in nature or quality.
   As sensible maketh a man differ from a stone, in a far difference; for other Species, as Beasts, have the same difference, but reasonable is the nearest, whereby he differeth from a stone, beasts, and all other things. 1657, Henry Ainsworth, Zachary Coke, The Art of Logick., page 26
   Is there not a far difference between asking it up and urging it, Mr. Secretary ? 1979, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Armed Services, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Foreign Relations, Military situation in the Far East - Volume 3, page 1737
   The pressbook identifies the film as a 'picturization of Jane Austen's widely read novel' and starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier (based on the theatrical adaptation by Helen Jerome), it is a far remove from adaptations that follow. 2010, Deborah Cartmell, Screen Adaptations: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, page 78
   This may not be at such a far remove from the endlessly recursive textual inventions of Kafka, Beckett, and Bernhard as it may seem. 2014, Henry Sussman, Playful Intelligence: Digitizing Tradition, page 124
7. (programming, not comparable) Outside the currently selected segment in a segmented memory architecture.
   far heap; far memory; far pointer

adv

1. To, from or over a great distance in space, time or other extent.
   You have all come far and you will go farther.
   He built a time machine and travelled far into the future.
   Over time, his views moved far away from mine.
2. Very much; by a great amount.
   He was far richer than we'd thought.
   The expense far exceeds what I expected.
   I saw a tiny figure far below me.
   The Reds were on the back foot early on when a catalogue of defensive errors led to Ramires giving Chelsea the lead. Jay Spearing conceded possession in midfield and Ramires escaped Jose Enrique far too easily before scoring at the near post with a shot Reina should have saved. May 5, 2012, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport