afield

Afield is an English adverb meaning away or at a distance, often used to indicate movement away from one's home or usual place, or toward a distant location in the field. In modern prose, the standalone form is rarely used; the common idiom is far afield.

Usage and context: Historically, afield appears in poetry, narrative, and military or frontier writing to convey travel, deployment, or exploration away from home. It is most often encountered in older or formal styles of English and is less common in contemporary everyday speech, where far afield or simply away are preferred.

Etymology and classification: The term likely derives from a- plus field, aligning with a sense of direction toward or into open country. It is primarily attested in Middle English and Early Modern English and is now chiefly encountered in literary, historical, or ceremonial contexts rather than as a current everyday usage.

Modern status and variations: The standalone word afield has fallen out of common usage, with far afield remaining the ordinary expression to describe something distant or unrelated. Some texts may preserve afield for stylistic or historical fidelity, but the modern, widely understood form is the phrase far afield.

See also: far afield.