detract

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To take away; to withdraw or remove.

   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 funny, detract from the poignancy and the emotional intimacy of the episode.

2. 2
   verb

   To take credit or reputation from; to derogate; to defame or decry.

   That calumnious critic […] / Detracting what laboriously we do.

3. 3
   verb

   take away a part from

Etymology

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