How to use distract in a sentence
40 example sentences · verb, adjective
Distract means to divert the attention of. Example: “The crowd was distracted by a helicopter hovering over the stadium when the only goal of the game was scored.”
Examples of distract by meaning
verbTo 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
- 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
More sentences with distract
- We shouldn't let these post mortem injuries distract us while looking for the cause of death.From the entry post mortem
- We need you to buy us some time, so distract the security guard for a few minutes.From the entry buy time
- That subject is tangential to our discussion, and we cannot let it distract us.From the entry tangential
- The blinking text on the screen was distracting.From the entry blink
- You can tell they're a bunch of show offs because they spend all day cutting up and distracting everybody, just to be the center of attention.From the entry show offs
- Wait, uh - I-I-I should go distract Caine so he doesn't l-listen in on this.2026 March 20, Gooseworx, “hjsakldfhl” (20:32 from the start), in The Amazing Digital Circus, episode 8, spoken by Jax (Michael Kovach). From the entry fill in
- The clock had just struck midnight and Thomas was distracting himself with another virtual reality horror game.2020, Ethan Blake, Into the Hollow, first page of chapter 4. From the entry nyctophilia
- Sometimes I let the splenditude of this place distract me from the tasks at hand.2016, Paul Jenkins, chapter 3, in Curioddity, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN, page 57. From the entry splenditude
- It distracts the other jass players – that's why Nonna's so good at jass.2014, Arno Camenisch, translated by Donal McLaughlin, Behind the Station. From the entry jass
- Conflating veganism with vegetarianism and rawism is unnecessarily confusing and distracting.2013, Kim Socha, Sarahjane Blum, Confronting Animal Exploitation, page 107. From the entry rawism
- There was no distracting Rosol's ice-calm as he killed the fifth set and match.2012 June 28, Jamie Jackson, “Wimbledon 2012: Lukas Rosol shocked by miracle win over Rafael Nadal”, in the Guardian. From the entry nerveless
- I think it helped distract us from the dry, humdrum, and heat of the here and now.2010, Clare Vanderpool, Moon Over Manifest. From the entry humdrum
- Listen to your favourite music, or an audio-book to distract you from your task.2008, Alyssa Abbey, Stop Making Excuses and Start Living With Energy, Hoboken, NJ: Capstone Publishing, →ISBN, page 127. From the entry audio-book
- Distract the beefheaded cop by actually getting in his face and just — grab it.2008, Jonathan Miles, Dear American Airlines, page 149. From the entry beefheaded
- Sending a text message was considered to be the most distracting activity to perform while driving.2006, Daniel M. Sturnquist, Mobile Phones and Driving, page 51. From the entry distracting
- From the list, the least distracting activity was having a conversation with a passenger.2006, Daniel M. Sturnquist, Mobile Phones and Driving, page 51. From the entry distracting
- Might be a leetle distracting for an Adderalled guy, but I'll try it.2006 May 9, Snell, “Re: Significant others”, in alt.support.depression.manic.moderated (Usenet). From the entry Adderalled
- The way he pump-fakes it in the Oval Office is really distracting.2003 December 18, "Bush Won't Put Down New Football", The Onion, available in, 2005, Embedded in America, p. 51. From the entry pump-fake
- THERE WILL be no Sharpiegate to distract the 49ers this week.2002 October 16, David Steele, “The pen is mightier than 49ers, as long as it's in the end zone”, in SFGate. From the entry Sharpiegate
- "No," Maeniel shouted, "No!" trying to distract the man, and lunged toward him.1999, Alice Borchardt, Night of the Wolf, Ballantine, →ISBN, page 260. From the entry bring up
- DD, what an idiot, please shut and quit distracting me with your drivel.1998 April 11, racerX66, “Speedvision Coverage”, in rec.autos.sport.f1 (Usenet), archived from the original on 03 Jul 2026. From the entry shut
- Drivelling back to the shanty at midday presented him with a distracting gamble over lunch.1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 122. From the entry drivel
- The sharply written script, buoyed by its surrealist bent, facilitates the plot well enough that the impracticalities aren’t too distracting.2023 January 18, Shamira Ibrahim, “The Film That Accurately Captures Teen Grief”, in The Atlantic. From the entry surrealist
- Aside from walking and running around, they do all sorts of things that aren't too distracting for you.2023 September 13 (last accessed), Akkanen, “HoloCouncil Shimejis”, in itch.io, archived from the original on 03 Apr 2023. From the entry shimeji
- To distract themselves, trypanophobes might want to watch something on a device, or listen to music with headphones.2021 August 30, Emily Brookes, “Covid-19 NZ: What to do if your fear of needles is stopping you from getting vaccinated”, in Stuff. From the entry trypanophobe
- Republicans' entire approach to distracting low-information working-class whites with "dog whistle, sound bites, and bumper sticker slogans" will have to change.2018, Val Atkinson, Distractions, Distortions, Deceptions, and Outright Lies: Diversiont that Keep the SOuth Red, Poor People Poor, and…. From the entry low-information
- Fursuiters are easy to distract, so they sometimes need to be reminded of the basics of life during FurCons.2018 February 15, Kathy Wise, “Getting to Know My Brother’s Fursona at Texas Furry Fiesta”, in D Magazine, archived from the original on…. From the entry 6-2-1 rule
- Waiters were in on the ruse, and would frequently distract customers in order to facilitate the yoinking of oysters and caviar.2017, Nate Crowley, 100 Best Video Games (That Never Existed), →ISBN, page 90. From the entry yoink
- 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, London: Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the…. From the entry hover
- Her one discernible flaw is her hyperextended arms, but while occasionally distracting, they also lend her elegance a youthful, gangly charm.2007 March 25, Gia Kourlas, “Paul Taylor’s Women Take a Leap Forward”, in New York Times. From the entry hyperextended
- But its particulars are nontheoretical enough to be distracting.2007 February 22, Janet Maslin, “The Poor Are Different From You and Me. Or Are They?”, in New York Times. From the entry nontheoretical
- I'll have to send apsaras to distract you.2006, Vikram Chandra, Sacred Games, volume 1, Penguin, published 2007, page 17. From the entry apsara
- No amount of Winnie the Poohs on the wall could distract you from seeing the huge bloodstain on the carpet.2004, John A. Miller, Jr, The Victorian Mansion Murders, Pima Books, →ISBN, page 40. From the entry Winnie the Pooh
- Maybe you could get a wind-up toy to distract him.1997, Daria (TV, episode 1.07). From the entry wind-up
- The chief problem with earthism is that it sometimes distracts attention from commitment to justice for the poor and oppressed.1997, John B. Cobb, Reclaiming the Church, →ISBN, page 45. From the entry earthism
- However, this "Las Vegas" effect, as I discussed in Chapter 1, can actually distract users from their tasks.1994, Theo Mandel, Windows vs. OS/2, the GUI-OOUI War, Van Nostrand Reinhold, →ISBN, page 109. From the entry Las Vegas effect
- But “horses with uncloven hoof” suggests a cloven-hooved variety, which for a moment puzzles the wit, and therefore distracts.1905, W[illiam] H[enry] D[enham] Rouse, “Introduction”, in Matthew Arnold, On Translating Homer, London: John Murray, […], page 22. From the entry cloven-hooved
Meaning of distract
- verb To divert the attention of.
- verb To divert (attention).
- verb To make crazy or insane; to drive to distraction.
Questions about distract in a sentence
- How do you use distract in a sentence?
- Distract is used as a verb and adjective. For example: “The crowd was distracted by a helicopter hovering over the stadium when the only goal of the game was scored.”
- What is a short sentence with distract?
- “I'll have to send apsaras to distract you.”
- What does distract mean?
- Distract means to divert the attention of.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: distract (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “How to use distract in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/distract. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
