to put daylight between

8.8

To create distance from someone or something to avoid being too close

phrasal verb

: distanciarse de

She decided to put daylight between herself and the toxic relationship.

Examples

Sometimes you need to put daylight between your work and your personal life to maintain balance.
He realized it was healthiest to put daylight between himself and his old habits.
After the argument, she decided to put daylight between herself and the group for a while.
It's important to put daylight between your work and personal life.
After the argument, she decided to put daylight between herself and the group for a while.
He realized it was healthiest to put daylight between himself and his old habits.
Sometimes you need to put daylight between your work and your personal life to maintain balance.

Synonyms

to keep away

vsto put daylight between

187 1.6

Stop someone or something from coming near

creates separation usually to avoid involvement or reduce connection

to distance

vsto put daylight between

77 5.7

To make yourself less involved with someone or something

creates separation mainly to avoid contact or reduce connection

to distance oneself from

vsto put daylight between

75 7.0

Keep away from someone or something to show no connection

creates separation to avoid involvement or reduce connection

to keep apart

vsto put daylight between

41 3.2

To stop people or objects from touching and mixing

creates separation often to avoid involvement, not only to stop mixing

to keep one's distance

vsto put daylight between

32 3.9

To stay away from people or things to avoid close contact

creates separation to reduce involvement rather than simply staying away

Antonyms

to connect

572 1.8

Build a friendly relationship with someone by talking or listening

How Distant

to sever

67 5.8

to put daylight between

8.8

to distance oneself from

75 7.0

to pull away

86 3.5

to step back

101 3.6

Surface Forms

put daylight between infinitive

Morphology

put + daylight + between

The verbs 'put' and the preposition 'between' clearly signal creating separation, so a learner who knows those words can infer the general idea of creating space. However 'daylight' normally means visible light, and here it is used metaphorically to mean room or distance, which requires a figurative shift that may not be immediately predictable for a B1 learner. Because the core action is transparent but the choice of 'daylight' as the metaphorical noun is non-literal, this is best classified as semi-transparent.

Etymology

Put daylight between comes from a simple picture: you put clear daylight between yourself and someone—like stepping back so sunlight and open space lie between you. That's why it now means 'create distance' or 'avoid getting involved'.