Remote (r-mt), a. [Compar. Remoter (-r); superl. Remotest.]
Etymology: [L. remotus, p. p. of removere to remove. See Remove.]
1. Removed to a distance; not near; far away; distant; -- said in respect to time or to place; as, remote ages; remote lands. Places remote enough are in Bohemia. Shak. Remote from men, with God he passed his days. Parnell.
2. Hence, removed; not agreeing, according, or being related; -- in various figurative uses. Specifically: (a) Not agreeing; alien; foreign. "All these propositions, how remote soever from reason." Locke. (b) Not nearly related; not close; as, a remote connection or consanguinity. (c) Separate; abstracted. "Wherever the mind places itself by any thought, either amongst, or remote from, all bodies." Locke. (d) Not proximate or acting directly; primary; distant. "From the effect to the remotest cause." Granville. (e) Not obvious or sriking; as, a remote resemblance.
3. (Bot.)
Separated by intervals greater than usual. -- Re*mote"ly, adv. -- Re*mote"ness, n.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for remote; he lists it under alien, old.
Where he writes about it:
In their figurative use, that is foreign which is remote, unlike, or unconnected; that is alien which is conflicting, hostile, or opposed. — from alien
New is opposed to old, modern to ancient, recent to remote, young to old, aged, etc. — from new
Remote (L. re, back or away, and moveo, move), primarily refers to space, but is extended to that which is far off in time; as, at some remote period. — from old