Remote

How to spell remote

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce remote

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does remote mean?

1. adjectiveFar away in distance, time, or relationship; situated in an isolated place.
2. nounA handheld device used to operate a television or other equipment from a distance.

Remote in a sentence

• adjective

  The cabin sat in a remote valley with no mobile signal.

• noun

  He searched the sofa cushions for the television remote.

• adjective

  There is only a remote chance that the flight will be delayed.

• noun

  The batteries in the remote had finally died.

Where does remote come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin remotus, the past participle of removere, which meant 'to move back' or 'to take away'. That verb joined re-, meaning 'back' or 'away', with movere, meaning 'to move', the same root that gives us 'move', 'motion', and 'remove'. English adopted it in the 1400s in the literal sense of 'far removed' in space or time, describing distant places, distant ancestors, and faint possibilities. The figurative meaning of 'slight' or 'faint', as in a remote chance, grew out of that same idea of something far off and barely within reach. The familiar handheld 'remote' for a television is a twentieth-century shortening of 'remote control', keeping the original sense of operating something from a distance. The spelling stays close to the Latin, so the single m and the silent final e are the only points worth watching.

How the word is built

• re- (back, away)
• mote (from movere: to move)