distract
/dɪˈstɹækt/
distract verb: to divert the attention of.
Verb
distract (third-person singular simple present distracts, present participle distracting, simple past and past participle distracted)
- To divert the attention of.
- The crowd was distracted by a helicopter hovering over the stadium when the only goal of the game was scored.
- While Gunners boss Arsene Wenger had warned his players against letting the pre-match festivities distract them from the task at hand, they clearly struggled for fluency early on.2011 December 10, David Ornstein, “Arsenal 1-0 Everton”, in BBC Sport
- Synonyms:
- sidetrack
- To divert (attention).
- It is recorded in the Talmud that there was no water organ [...] at the Temple, because of its sweet and powerful voice which was able to distract attention from the traditional instruments.1929, Abraham Zevi Idelsohn, Jewish Music: Its Historical Development, page 14
- To make crazy or insane; to drive to distraction.
- By Heav’ns, ſuch Virtues, join’d with ſuch Succeſs,
Diſtract my very Soul: Our Father’s Fortune
Wou’d almoſt tempt us to renounce his Precepts.1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 2
- By Heav’ns, ſuch Virtues, join’d with ſuch Succeſs,
Adjective
distract (not comparable)
- Drawn asunder; separated.
- Insane, mad.
- Ol[ivia]. […] Fetch Maluolio hither, / And yet alas, novv I remember me, / They ſay poore Gentleman, he's much diſtract. […] Did he vvrite this? / Clo[wn]. I [aye] Madame. / Du[ke Orsino]. This ſauours not much of diſtraction.c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- Alone ſhee beeing left the ſpoyle of loue and death, / In labour of her griefe outrageouſly diſtract, / The utmoſt of her ſpleene on her falſe Lord to act […]1612, Michael Drayton, “The Sixt Song”, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great...
distract meaning in Tamil, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali
distract in Tamil
- எண்ணம் மாற்று, கவனத் திருப்பு, கவனந் திருப்பு
distract in Marathi
- विचलित करण्यासाठी
distract in Urdu
- موڑنا, پریشان کرنا, پھیرنا
distract in Bengali
- distract
- বাদ bad
More languagesFewer languages
- distract in Malayalam
- ശ്രദ്ധതിരിക്കുക, സംഭ്രമിക്കുക, ഭ്രാന്തെടുപ്പിക്കുക, ശ്രദ്ധ തെറ്റിക്കുക
- distract in Kannada
- ಮನತಿರುಗಿಸು, ಗೊಂದಲಗೊಳಿಸು, ಗಮನವನ್ನು ಬೇರೆಡೆ ಹರಿಸು, ಮನಸ್ಸನ್ನು ಗಲಿಬಿಲಿಗೊಳಿಸು
- distract in Gujarati
- વિચલિત કરવા માટે
- distract in Sanskrit
- प्रकृष् prakṛṣ
- distract in Nepali
- विचलित गर्न
- distract in Arabic
- أَلْهَى ʔalhā
Examples of distract in a sentence
- But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.2013 June 29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 55:
- I eschew the idea of plugging in my laptop to take notes and resort to old-fashioned pen and paper instead, so that I can enjoy more of the view and not be distracted by bashing a keyboard.2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 65:
Synonyms of distract
Forms of distract
| third-person singular present | distracts |
|---|---|
| present participle | distracting |
| past participle | distracted |
| past | distracted |
Origin of distract
Borrowed from Latin distractus, from distrahō (“to pull apart”), from dis- + trahō (“to pull”).
Words formed from distract
Words that rhyme with distract
Questions about distract
- What does distract mean?
- Distract means to divert the attention of.
- What is distract in Tamil?
- Distract in Tamil is எண்ணம் மாற்று, கவனத் திருப்பு, கவனந் திருப்பு. See Distract meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use distract in a sentence?
- But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.
- What part of speech is distract?
- Distract can be a verb or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce distract?
- Distract is pronounced /dɪˈstɹækt/.
- What is the past tense of distract?
- The past tense of distract is distracted.
Words near distract in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: distract (page history and authors); distract (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); distract (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); distract (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); বাদ (Bengali) (page history and authors); distract (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); distract (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); distract (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); प्रकृष् (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); distract (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-distract.wav.
Cite this entry: “distract.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/distract. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.