distract

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To take someone's attention away from what they are doing.

   Usage: Use distract someone from something to show whose attention is diverted and what they stop concentrating on.

   Messages on my phone distract me from the article I am trying to finish.

   The loud music distracted me while I was trying to study.

2. 2
   verb

   To draw attention away from something on purpose, often as a trick.

   The thief distracted the shopkeeper while his partner stole the watch.

3. 3
   verb

   To upset or worry someone so much that they cannot think clearly.

   She was so distracted by grief that she could barely speak.

Simplified etymology

Distract comes from Latin distrahere, literally “to pull apart,” formed from dis-, “away” or “apart,” and trahere, “to draw” or “pull.” The modern sense of diverting someone’s attention was among its earliest English uses. In the 16th century it could also mean “perplex” and then “drive mad”; these senses survive in distraught, an irregular respelling of distract.

From Latin distractus, a form of distrahō, to pull apart, combining dis- with trahō, whose infinitive is trahere.

Topics

External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary