A distant relative is someone in your extended family with whom you share a remote ancestor or a long chain of connections. They are not immediate family members, such as parents, siblings, or first cousins. The term is common in both everyday talk and formal contexts to avoid long explanations, such as "my grandfather's cousin's daughter."
For example:
I met a distant relative at the family reunion who I had never seen before.
That actor is actually a distant relative of mine, but we’ve never spoken.
He's a distant relative of mine on my mother's side.
