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Glite Dictionary
far and near

far and near

3 3.7
It happens in many places both near and far
  • idiom
: de cerca y de lejos
  • Birds migrate from far and near to nest in this region during springtime.

Examples

  • The first day involves large numbers of guests from far and near.

    Academic text (1991)

  • We planned to take you to places far and near.

    Blog text (8)

  • He loves the crowd; everywhere you look, people far and near are moving.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • The festival attracts visitors from far and near, celebrating cultures from around the world.

  • The charity event welcomed donations from friends and supporters far and near.

Synonyms

far and wide
vsfar and near
28 2.6

In many places across a large area

has identical meaning but uses a different word order in the phrase
widely
vsfar and near
6 1.0

With a lot of space between things

refers to being in or to all places rather than just being far apart
hither and thither
vsfar and near
  • Archaic
2 9.3

In many different directions and places

describes presence everywhere rather than movement or scattering about

Antonyms

nowhere
796 1.0

Not in any place where someone can find it

How Widely

worldwide
233 2.1
far and near
3 3.7
nationally
157 3.0
regionally
9 4.0
locally
123 1.4

Surface Forms

far and near positive

Morphology

far + and + near

The meaning 'in or to all places; everywhere' is directly derivable from the coordinated antonyms 'far' and 'near' joined by 'and', which signals a wide range of locations. This is a common, cross-linguistic compositional pattern, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will readily infer the phrase's meaning.

Etymology

The phrase far and near comes from putting far and near together to make a clear picture of looking to places far away and close by. That's why it means 'everywhere' or 'in all places'.