Word Pairs: Farther? Further?

January 10, 2008 by Melissa Donovan

Believe it or not, farther and further each have distinctly different meanings although people tend to use them interchangeably.

Essie of Essentral suggested I write a post about the difference between farther and further. Thanks for the suggestion, Essie!

Now, let’s solve the farther, further mystery – because as you know, word pairs are fun!

Farther

The word farther deals with physical distance or that which can be measured. One way to remember this is to recall the phrase “far away.”

Examples include:

I jog a little farther each day.
Do you live farther away from the city now?
The library is farther from my house than the bookstore.

Further

Further also deals with distance, but not in physical terms. Use further when you’re talking about figurative distance or a general advancement. Some interchangeable terms include furthermore, moreover, and in addition. Further also indicates a greater degree of something. Here are examples of how to use further correctly in a sentence:

I’ll be delving further into the topic at a later date.
I am further along in my holiday shopping than I was last year at this time.
Further, I intend to finish my shopping before the end of the week.

Farther / Further

In some cases, you can use either of these words, especially when the distinction isn’t clear. For example, if you are discussing a book, you could argue that there is physical distance between the pages because they can be measured. However, since the distance between pages is not geographical in nature, usage of farther or further is ambiguous. When it’s not completely clear which word to use, you can choose either one, though it’s usually safer to go with further because it has less restrictions that its cousin.