Word.ws English Dictionary

detract

/dɪˈtɹækt/

detract verb: to take away; to withdraw or remove.

Verb

detract (third-person singular simple present detracts, present participle detracting, simple past and past participle detracted)

  1. (intransitive) To take away; to withdraw or remove.
    • The improvement here patented consists in so arranging the parts of an ever pointed pencil case, that the point which holds the pencil shall be obtruded and detracted without having a slot in the side, which a ferrule and pin to draw it down, as is ordinarily done.1846, editorial staff, “CHEMISTRY”, in Scientific American, series 1, Volume 2, Issue 13, page 102
    • The Conan O’Brien-penned half-hour has the capacity to rip our collective hearts out the way the cute, funny bad girl next door does to Bart when she reveals that her new boyfriend is Jimbo Jones, but the show keeps shying away from genuine emotion in favor of jokes that, while overwhelmingly...2012 May 27, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “New Kid On The Block” (season 4, episode 8; originally aired 11/12/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club
  2. (transitive) To take credit or reputation from; to derogate; to defame or decry.
    • That calumnious critic […] / Detracting what laboriously we do.1604, Michael Drayton, Moses in a Map of his Miracles

detract meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam

detract in Tamil

இழிவு படுத்து, இழிவுபடுத்து, குறைவு படுத்து, குறைவுபடுத்து

detract in Urdu

بدنامی کرنا, گھٹانا, لے لینا, توجہ ہٹانا

detract in Bengali

কমানো, ক্ষুণ্ণ করা

detract in Malayalam

വിലകുറയ്ക്കുക, തള്ളിപ്പറയുക, വിമർശിക്കുക, അപമാനിക്കുക
More languagesFewer languages
detract in Kannada
ದಾರಿತಪ್ಪಿಸು, ಕೆಡುಕುಮಾಡು, ತಡಂಮಾಡು, ತಡಮಾಡು

Examples of detract in a sentence

  • Yet the water that surrounds the tofu inside the vacuum pack detracts from its appearance.
  • A few sounds were consistently more enhancing, while most were consistently more detracting.
  • Everything existed only to detract attention from something else.

All 15 example sentences with detract

Synonyms of detract

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of detract

Forms of detract

third-person singular presentdetracts
present participledetracting
past participledetracted
pastdetracted

Past tense of detract: detracted

Origin of detract

Borrowed from Middle French détracter, from Latin detractum, past participle of detraho.

Words formed from detract

Words that rhyme with detract

23 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about detract

What does detract mean?
Detract means to take away; to withdraw or remove.
What is detract in Tamil?
Detract in Tamil is இழிவு படுத்து, இழிவுபடுத்து, குறைவு படுத்து. See Detract meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is detract?
Detract is a verb.
How do you pronounce detract?
Detract is pronounced /dɪˈtɹækt/ (UK).
What is the past tense of detract?
The past tense of detract is detracted.

Words near detract in the dictionary

  1. detoxings
  2. detrack
  3. detracked
  4. detracking
  5. detracks
  6. detract
  7. detractable
  8. detracted
  9. detracter
  10. detracters
  11. detractest

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: detract (page history and authors); detract (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); detract (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Detract (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); detract (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); detract (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-detract.wav.

Cite this entry: “detract.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/detract. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.