alejar
transitive verb
2 (hacer abandonar) (de lugar) to keep away;de from; (de puesto) to remove;de from
ese olor aleja a los mosquitos that smell keeps the mosquitoes away
una enfermedad lo alejó de la vida pública illness forced him to withdraw from public life
lo hice para alejarlos de la tentación I did it to keep them out of temptation's way
alejar a algn de algn (distanciar) to keep sb away from sb; (causar ruptura) to cause a rift between sb and sb
intentó alejarla de mí he tried to keep her away from me
aquel asunto los alejó definitivamente that matter caused a permanent rift between them
3 (desviar) [+atención] to distract; [+sospechas] to remove; [+amenaza, peligro] to remove
tratan de alejar nuestra atención de los problemas they are trying to distract our attention from the problems; aleja de ti las tentaciones stay out of temptation's way
eso alejó el fantasma de la crisis that removed the spectre of a crisis
pronominal verb
alejarse1 (irse lejos) to go away; move away;de from
alejémonos un poco más let's get o go o move a bit further away; un coche rojo se alejaba del lugar a red car was leaving the scene; vieron alejarse corriendo a dos jóvenes they saw two youths running away; se alejó lentamente he walked off slowly
no conviene alejarse de la orilla it's better not to go too far from the shore
alejarse del buen camino to lose one's way; to go o stray off the straight and narrow
2 (separarse)
alejarse de algo la carretera se aleja de la costa the road veers away from the coast
en esta obra se aleja de los problemas sociales in this work she moves away from social problems
cada vez se alejan más del descenso they are moving further away from relegation
después de su divorcio se alejó de la vida social after her divorce she withdrew from social life
poco a poco se fueron alejando de sus amigos they gradually drifted apart from their friends; alejarse del tema to get off the subject
3 (desaparecer) [+peligro] to recede; [+ruido] to grow fainter
la amenaza de una guerra se fue alejando poco a poco the threat of war gradually receded; se aleja la posibilidad de un nuevo recorte de los tipos de interés the possibility of a new cut in interest rates is becoming increasingly unlikely
4 (diferir)
su comportamiento se aleja de lo normal his behaviour is far from being normal; lo que te he contado no se aleja de la verdad what I have told you is not far from the truth; la centralización del poder se aleja del espíritu de las sociedades cooperativas the centralization of power is alien to the spirit of cooperative societies