Word.ws English Dictionary

drive to distraction

Syllables: drive to dis·tract·ion/ˌdɹaɪv tə dɪsˈtɹækʃ(ə)n/US/ˌdɹaɪv tə dɪsˈtɹækʃən/

drive to distraction verb: to annoy (someone) so much that they cannot concentrate.

Verb

drive to distraction (third-person singular simple present drives to distraction, present participle driving to distraction, simple past drove to distraction, past participle driven to distraction)

  1. (excessive, transitive) To annoy (someone) so much that they cannot concentrate.
    • "[…]pray do this for us—pray do not drive to distraction a man who has loved you so well."1855 January 5, Anthony Trollope, The Warden, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC
    Synonyms:
    drive crazy, drive round the bend, drive up the wall

Synonyms of drive to distraction

  • drive crazy
  • drive round the bend
  • drive up the wall

Forms of drive to distraction

third-person singular presentdrives to distraction
present participledriving to distraction
pastdrove to distraction
past participledriven to distraction

Origin of drive to distraction

From drive (“to cause to become”) + to + distraction (“deranged state of mind; insanity”).

Questions about drive to distraction

What does drive to distraction mean?
Drive to distraction means to annoy (someone) so much that they cannot concentrate.
What part of speech is drive to distraction?
Drive to distraction is a verb.
How do you pronounce drive to distraction?
Drive to distraction is pronounced /ˌdɹaɪv tə dɪsˈtɹækʃ(ə)n/ (UK).
What is the past tense of drive to distraction?
The past tense of drive to distraction is drove to distraction.

Words near drive to distraction in the dictionary

  1. drive through
  2. drive thru
  3. drive thrus
  4. drive time
  5. drive times
  6. drive to distraction
  7. drive to drink
  8. drive train
  9. drive trains
  10. drive truck
  11. drive unit

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: drive to distraction (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-drive to distraction.wav.

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