What does écart in French mean?

What is the meaning of the word écart in French? The article explains the full meaning, pronunciation along with bilingual examples and instructions on how to use écart in French.

The word écart in French means distance, difference, swerve, gap, deviation, deviating, standing apart, sitting apart, well away from, widen the gap, bookkeeping discrepancy, bookkeeping discrepancy, accounting discrepancy, misconduct, misdemeanour, misuse of language, inappropriate use of language, interquartile range, mean deviation, standard deviation, perform a balancing act, perform a delicate balancing act, step aside, move aside, step out of the way, move out of the way, slip up, commit a misdemeanour, cheat, the splits, sideline, isolation, keep your distance, steer clear of , distance yourself from , stay well away from, shut yourself away, shut yourself away from the world, keep yourself to yourself, stay away from , keep away from, stay out of, keep your distance from, keep away from , stay away from, keep out of , stay out of, remove from somewhere. To learn more, please see the details below.

Listen to pronunciation

Meaning of the word écart

distance

nom masculin (intervalle)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Il faut un écart de 55 cm entre les deux assiettes.
You need a distance of 55 cm between the two plates.

difference

nom masculin (différence de valeur)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
À cette saison, il y a de grands écarts de température. Mon frère et moi avons 3 ans d'écart.
At this time of year, there are big temperature differences. // There is three years' difference between my brother and me.

swerve

nom masculin (changement brusque et bref de direction)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
La voiture fait un écart pour éviter le chevreuil.
The car made a swerve to avoid the deer.

gap

nom masculin (différence entre personnes) (figurative)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Il y a trop d'écart entre nous, nous ne nous comprenons pas.
There is too much of a gap between us; we don't understand each other.

deviation, deviating

nom masculin (éloignement d'une ligne de conduite)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Sans faire d'écart, ce régime est difficile.
It's difficult to stick to this diet without any deviation.

standing apart, sitting apart

locution adverbiale (loin, à distance)

(expression: Prepositional phrase, adverbial phrase, or other phrase or expression--for example, "behind the times," "on your own.")
Ce groupe à l'écart, c'est celui des fumeurs.
That group sitting apart is the smoking group.

well away from

(isolé de)

(expression: Prepositional phrase, adverbial phrase, or other phrase or expression--for example, "behind the times," "on your own.")
La cabane se trouve à l'écart des habitations.

widen the gap

locution verbale (augmenter la différence)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")

bookkeeping discrepancy

nom masculin (erreur de comptabilité)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

bookkeeping discrepancy, accounting discrepancy

nom masculin (différence entre débit et encaissement)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

misconduct, misdemeanour

nom masculin (agissement contraire à la normale)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Le professeur n'acceptait aucun écart de conduite.

misuse of language, inappropriate use of language

nom masculin (mots peu châtiés)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

interquartile range

nom masculin (mesure statistique)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

mean deviation

nom masculin (statistiques : mesure)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

standard deviation

nom masculin (statistique) (statistics)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
L'écart type mesure l'écart moyen par rapport à la moyenne.

perform a balancing act, perform a delicate balancing act

locution verbale (figuré (être entre deux choix) (figurative)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")

step aside, move aside, step out of the way, move out of the way

locution verbale (s'écarter)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")

slip up

locution verbale (figuré (ne pas respecter une règle)

(phrasal verb, intransitive: Verb with adverb(s) or preposition(s), having special meaning and not taking direct object--for example, "make up" [=reconcile]: "After they fought, they made up.")

commit a misdemeanour

locution verbale (ne pas respecter les règles)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
En 20 ans, ce professionnel a déjà fait quelques écarts de conduite.

cheat

locution verbale (figuré (tromper son conjoint)

(intransitive verb: Verb not taking a direct object--for example, "She jokes." "He has arrived.")
Bien que souvent tenté, il n'a jamais fait d'écart de conduite.

the splits

nom masculin (figure de gymnastique) (UK)

sideline

locution verbale (écarter, éloigner)

(transitive verb: Verb taking a direct object--for example, "Say something." "She found the cat.")

isolation

nom féminin (éloignement des autres, quarantaine)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

keep your distance

locution verbale (ne pas s'approcher)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")

steer clear of , distance yourself from , stay well away from

locution verbale (ne pas se mêler aux autres)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Je reste à l'écart de ces commérages.

shut yourself away, shut yourself away from the world

(s'isoler)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")

keep yourself to yourself

locution verbale (ne pas se mêler aux autres)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
En soirée, il se tient à l'écart.

stay away from , keep away from

locution verbale (ne pas se mêler à [qch])

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Les enfants ! Tenez-vous à l'écart de la foule.

stay out of

locution verbale (ne pas s'occuper de [qch])

Je me tiens à l'écart des histoires de famille.

keep your distance from

locution verbale (ne pas se mêler à [qqn])

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Je me tiens à l'écart de mes collègues.

keep away from , stay away from

locution verbale (ne pas approcher de)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Il faut se tenir à l'écart du bord de cette falaise.

keep out of , stay out of

locution verbale (ne pas se mêler de)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Je me tiens toujours à l'écart de leurs petites affaires.

remove from somewhere

locution verbale (isoler, éloigner [qqn])

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Le professeur tient les élèves turbulents à l'écart.
The teacher removes disruptive pupils from his class.

Let's learn French

So now that you know more about the meaning of écart in French, you can learn how to use them through selected examples and how to read them. And remember to learn the related words that we suggest. Our website is constantly updating with new words and new examples so you can look up the meanings of other words you don't know in French.

Do you know about French

French (le français) is a Romance language. Like Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, it comes from popular Latin, once used in the Roman Empire. A French-speaking person or country can be called a "Francophone". French is the official language in 29 countries. French is the fourth most spoken native language in the European Union. French ranks third in the EU, after English and German, and is the second most widely taught language after English. The majority of the world's French-speaking population lives in Africa, with about 141 million Africans from 34 countries and territories who can speak French as a first or second language. French is the second most widely spoken language in Canada, after English, and both are official languages at the federal level. It is the first language of 9.5 million people or 29% and the second language of 2.07 million people or 6% of the entire population of Canada. In contrast to other continents, French has no popularity in Asia. Currently, no country in Asia recognizes French as an official language.