If a guy has suddenly started being distant, this post will show you likely reasons why and what would make them more likely.

So, what does it mean when a guy is suddenly distant? A guy might be suddenly distant due to losing interest in you, being annoyed with you, thinking you are annoyed with him, or he might be having a bad day.

A guy might be suddenly distant for a number of possible reasons but there are some things you can consider to help figure out the main cause.

What does it mean when a guy is suddenly distant?

Below are likely reasons and what would make them more likely.

He thinks that you don’t like him or you are annoyed with him

The reason that he has been distant could be that he thinks that you don’t like him or that you are annoyed with him.

This would be more likely if he has been trying to avoid you, if he has been distant after an argument or if he did show interest in you in the past but you didn’t reciprocate it.

If he does think that you do not like him, it could still be the case that he is attracted to you.

If he is, it would be likely that he would show signs of attraction, in his body language, when he is around you.

These signs could include:

  • Keeping his focus on you when multiple people are talking
  • Glancing at you a lot
  • Pointing his feet at you (people often point their feet at people that they are attracted to)
  • Adjusting his appearance when he sees you
  • Touching you a lot
  • Talking to you with a deeper voice than he does with other people
  • Standing closer to you than he does with other people
  • Watching you and getting anxious when you are around other men
  • Getting defensive when other men are with you both
  • Having dilated pupils when looking at you (people’s pupils will often become more dilated when looking at someone that they are attracted to)

There are more signs of attraction that a guy might show around you and I have written about more of them in this blog post.

He is annoyed with you

The reason why he has been distant could be that he is annoyed with you.

This would be more likely if he doesn’t usually ignore you but he suddenly started to be distant after something happened that would cause him to be annoyed with you.

If he is annoyed with you then he might show signs of being annoyed with you by doing things such as:

  • Facing away from you
  • Smiling with a closed mouth
  • Tightening his lips
  • Distancing himself
  • Avoiding eye contact
  • Furrowing his eyebrows

He is nervous

It could be the case that he is attracted to you but he is nervous that either you won’t like him, if he shows that he likes you, or that he’ll say something that you won’t like.

This would be more likely if he does seem to show signs of attraction around you and if he seems to interact with you in a different way to how he interacts with other people.

If he does get nervous around you then he might show signs of being nervous by doing things such as:

  • Struggling to maintain eye contact
  • Talking at a higher pitch, with you, than he does with other people
  • Rubbing the face, arms, neck or legs a lot
  • Getting a dry mouth
  • Fidgeting a lot
  • Laughing a lot at the things that you say

He is not interested in you

It could be the case that he has been distant because he is not interested in you and he doesn’t want to give you the impression that he is.

This would be more likely if he seems to avoid you as well, if he started to be distant after you showed interest in him and if he seems to show different body language around you than he does with other people.

If he does do it because he is not interested in you, he might also show distancing body language around you by doing things such as:

  • Avoiding eye contact
  • Pointing his feet away from you
  • Standing further away from you, when talking to you, than he does with other people
  • Smiling at you with a closed mouth and not smiling beside the eyes
  • Positioning himself not to be close to you

He acts that way naturally

It could be the case that he actually acts that way normally and that he is not actually ignoring you.

This would be more likely if he also seems to do it with other people as well and if he shows the same body language around other people as he does with you.

If he does seem to do it naturally, it could still be the case that he is attracted to you. If he is attracted to you, it would be likely that he would show some signs of attraction that he doesn’t with other people.

Consider how he reacts when he sees you

When trying to understand how he feels about you and why he has been distant it would help to consider the way that he reacts when he sees you.

If he, noticeably, changes his body language, when he sees you, it would make it more likely that he has particularly good or bad feelings about you depending on the way that he changes it.

If he reacts to seeing you by doing things such as:

  • Adjusting his appearance
  • Adjusting his posture
  • Facing towards you (especially with his feet)
  • Moving closer to you
  • Having more dilated pupils

Then it would make it more likely that he is attracted to you and that he is distant because he is nervous.

Whereas, if he reacts to seeing you by doing things such as:

  • Squinting
  • Facing away from you
  • Smiling with a closed mouth
  • Tightening his lips
  • Distancing himself
  • Avoiding eye contact

Then it would be more likely that he either is annoyed with you or that he is not interested in you.

Think about how he interacts with other people

People can, naturally, show single body language signs that would normally suggest something. This is why it would help to compare the way that he interacts with you with how he interacts with other people.

If he also seems to be distant towards other people and he shows similar body language around other people as he does with you then it would be more likely that he does it naturally and that he doesn’t have bad feelings about you.

Whereas, if he only seems to be distant with you and his body language is different around you, it would make it more likely that he has particularly good or bad feelings about you depending on the way that he changes it.

Consider when and where he ignores you

It would also help to consider when he was being distant.

If he only seems to be distant when you are both around certain people, it would suggest that he doesn’t want them to see him with you. This could be because he doesn’t want them to know that he likes you, maybe his friends don’t like you or maybe he has a girlfriend and he doesn’t want her to see him with you.

Whereas, if he seems to act that way all the time, it could be that he does it naturally or that he has good or bad feelings about you. It would help to consider how he reacts upon seeing you, how he interacts with other people and when he started to do it.

Consider multiple aspects of his body language

When considering what his body language could be suggesting it would help to consider multiple signs at the same time.

The reason being that a single body language sign will often have many different possible meanings. This can make single body language signs less reliable when they are shown in isolation.

Whereas, if he shows a number of signs, that all suggest the same thing, then it would be more likely that he is showing them for that specific reason.

If you want to learn more about body language, a book I would recommend would be The Definitive Book of Body Language (on Amazon). It shows you how to interpret body language and understand people's true intentions.

Author

I created and currently manage Body Language Central, one of the premier sources for body language-related knowledge. Body language plays a key role in our daily lives. I hope that my website can help condense the wide amount of body language information available and allow you to make full use of it in your daily life. You can read more about me and my website here.