at arm's length
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
to keep someone or something at a distance
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
để giữ một người hoặc điều gì đó ở khoảng cách
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: within arm's reach but not touching
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
She kept her ex-boyfriend at arm's length after the breakup
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “at arm's length” mean?
to keep someone or something at a distance Literally: within arm's reach but not touching
Is “at arm's length” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.