Distract

Definition: Distract

Distract

Verb

1. Draw someone's attention away from something; "The thief distracted the bystanders"; "He deflected his competitors".

2. Disturb in mind or make uneasy or cause to be worried or alarmed; "She was rather perturbed by the news that her father was seriously ill".

Date "distract" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references)

Synonyms: Distract

Synonyms: cark (v), deflect (v), disorder (v), disquiet (v), perturb (v), trouble (v), unhinge (v). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Excitation	Absorb, rivet the attention; sink into the mind, sink into the heart; prey on the mind, distract; intoxicate; overwhelm, overpower; bouleverser, upset, turn one's head.
Inattention	Call off the attention, draw off the attention, call away the attention, divert the attention, distract the mind; put out of one's head; disconcert, discompose; put out, confuse, perplex, bewilder, moider, fluster, muddle, dazzle; throw a sop to Cerberus.
Neglect	Render neglectful; Adjective: put off one's guard, throw off one's guard; distract, divert.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Crosswords: Distract

English words defined with "distract": Distracting ♦ lightning rod ♦ red herring. (references)

Specialty definitions using "distract": improvised explosive devices ♦ Sea Foam. (references)

Etymologies containing "distract": Distrait. (references)

Domain

Usage

Screenplays

Joker's vain and likes to talk, he'll try to distract you, but don't listen. (Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker; writing credit: Bob Kane; Paul Dini)

Don't distract me. (Halloween: Resurrection; writing credit: Debra Hill; John Carpenter)

Now when we get inside, Annie will distract Lindsey and we go upstairs to the first bedroom on the right. (Halloween; writing credit: John Carpenter; Debra Hill)

Then you'll just have to distract her while I nab the pooch and make with the gore. (Ginger Snaps; writing credit: Karen Walton; John Fawcett)

But glory will not distract him from his vigil. (The Tick; writing credit: Larry Charles; Lon Diamond)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Domain	Title
Books	Dogmatic Wisdom: How the Cultural Wars Divert Education and Distract America (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Author	Quotation
Henry David Thoreau	Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Title	Author	Quote
Les Miserables	Hugo, Victor	One dog may distract attention from another.
Walden	Thoreau, Henry David	Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Civil Liberties	Laos	Although official pronouncements accepted the existence of religion, they emphasized its potential to divide, distract, or destabilize. (references)
Travel	Spain	Thieves often attempt to distract victims by first squirting mustard on their clothing, asking for directions on the street, etc. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Speaker	Phrase(s)
Rush Limbaugh	Clinton did launch missiles at aspirin factories and empty terrorist camps during the Monica Lewinsky grand jury proceedings, but the goal there was to distract the people's attention from Monica Lewinsky's testimony, not to get bin Laden.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Speaker	Term	Phrase(s)
Andrew Jackson	1829-1837	Intestine dissensions have too frequently occurred to mar the prosperity, interrupt the commerce, and distract the governments of most of the nations of this hemisphere which have separated themselves from Spain.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

"Distract" is generally used as a lexical verb (infinitive) -- approximately 88.46% of the time. "Distract" is used about 286 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Lexical Verb (infinitive)	88.46%	253	18,652
Lexical Verb (base form)	10.84%	31	62,296
Noun (proper)	0.35%	1	339,140
Noun (singular)	0.35%	1	339,140
Total	100.00%	286	N/A

Expressions using "distract": distract attention ♦ distract one's mind. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Language		Translations for "distract"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Afrikaans		besighou (abstract, divert, entertain). (various references)

Albanian		shushat (daze, dumbfound, flummox, pose, stun), shushas (daze, dumbfound, flummox, pose, stun), shkëput (abstract, detach, disengage, disjoin, disjoint, dissociate, disunite, extract, rip off, tear, tear off, tear up, uncouple, unfix, unhook, unstrap), marros (madden), luaj mendsh (derange), i heq mendjen nga, hutoj (abash, baffle, befuddle, bewilder, confound, confuse, dash, disarray, discomfit, disconcert, discountenance, disorient, disorientate, floor, flummox, mystify, overwhelm, perplex, pose, puzzle, wilder), çmend (dement, derange, drive smb. mad, madden). (various references)

Arabic		‏حير (baffle, befog, bewilder, confound, floor, flummox, fluster, mystify, nonplus, perplex, put off one's fears, puzzle, riddle, vex), ‏صرف الانتباه, ‏ذهل (amaze, astonish, astound, bemuse, bewilder, bowl over, confound, flabbergast, flummox, maze, shake, shock, stagger, stun, stupefy, surprise, take a fancy to, taken aback, wonder), ‏خبل (amentia, befuddle, besot, craze, dementia, derange, fluster, frenzy, infatuate, insanity, lunacy, mad, madden, madness, spare, stagger, stultify, stun, stupefaction, stupefy, tangle, unbalance), ‏ألهى (amuse, beguile, divert). (various references)

Bulgarian		разстройвам (break, crack, defeat, derange, detune, disagree, disconcert, disjoint, disorder, disorganize, disrupt, disturb, impair, put about, rupture, stultify, unnerve, unstring, unvoice, upset), разсейвам (dispel, disperse, dissipate, illumine, lay, put off, quell, resolve, satisfy, scatter), влудявам (mad, madden), отвличам (abduct, abstract, call off, carry off, divert, hijack, kidnap, reave, snatch away, steal away, take away, turn off), отплесвам (deflect), обърквам (abash, addle, baffle, bedevil, befuddle, bewilder, complicate, confound, confuse, discomfit, disconcert, disjoint, dislocate, embarrass, embroil, flatten, flummox, fluster, foil, fuddle, gravel, jumble, maze, mess about, mess around, mess up, muddle, muff, muss, nonplus, obfuscate, overwhelm, perplex, pose, put off, put out, puzzle, sew up, snarl, stonker, throw out, tumble, vex, wilder), подлудявам (become insane, craze, dement, drive crazy, drive mad, drive smb. nuts, go crazy, go mad, loco, mad, madden, make wild). (various references)

Chinese		牽制 (tie up; batten down; curb), 分散 (Dispersed, Disperser, Distracted, Distracting, spitting, sporadic, Sporadical). (various references)

Czech		zneklidnit (disquiet, unsettle, upset), zdržovat (buttonhole, hinder, hold off, impede, obstruct, restrain), vyrušovat (bother, butt in, disturb, intrude, trouble), rozptýlit (amuse, banish, diffuse, dispel, disperse, dissipate, divert, resolve, strew), odvrátit pozornost, odvádìt èí pozornost. (various references)

Dutch		verstrooien (abstract, disperse, divert, entertain). (various references)

Esperanto		distri (divert, entertain). (various references)

Farsi		پریشان کردن (Afflict, Agitate, Ail, Buffalo, Confound, Nonplus, Oppress, Stress, Tousle), گیج کردن (Astonish, Befuddle, Bemuse, Bewilder, Confound, Confuse, Daze, Fox, Fuzz, Knockdown, Muddle, Perplex, Petrify, Stump, Stun, Stupefy), دیوانه کردن (Craze, Derange, Mad, Madden, Moon). (various references)

Finnish		häiritä (abstract, disturb, divert, entertain, inconvenience, interfere, jam, trouble). (various references)

French		distraire (divert). (various references)

German		zerstreuen (abstract, allay, amuse, charm away, diffuse, dispel, disperse, disseminate, dissipate, divert, entertain, lay, lull, resolve, scatter, sow, to allay, to disperse, to scatter), ablenken (avert, deflect, deviate, divert, head off, put off, refract, to deviate, to divert, to refract, turn away). (various references)

Greek		αποσπώ (abstract, break off, detach, elicit, extort, extract, pluck, pry, pull, tease out, unfix, wean 1, wean 2, wrench, wrest, wring). (various references)

Hebrew		ל�"סיח את �"�"עת (deflect, sidetrack). (various references)

Hungarian		megzavar (bedazzle, dash, disorient, disorientate, embarrass, perplex, pervert, queer, to addle, to amaze, to baffle, to bowl over, to clog, to confound, to disarray, to disconcert, to dislocate, to dismay, to disorientate, to distract, to fluster, to muddy, to perplex, to perturb, to put off, to stultify, to throw out, to unsettle, to wake, unsettle), eltérít (angle, bias, detour, divert, hijack, to avert, to bias, to call off, to deflect, to distract, to divert, to head off, to hijack, to shunt, to sidetrack, to side-track, to turn from). (various references)

Indonesian		mengalihkan (dislocate, divert), membingungkan (bewilder, bewildering, disconcert, embarrassing, perplex, perplexing). (various references)

Italian		distrarre (amuse, amuse oneself, divert one's attention, entertain, misappropriate). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		紛らす (to distract, to divert). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		き�'ちらす (to distract a person's attention), まぎらす (to distract, to divert), まぎらわす (to distract, to divert), て�"ずる (to alter, to distract, to drop, to kindle, to light, to make tea, to shift, to turn), て�"じる (to alter, to distract, to drop, to kindle, to light, to make tea, to shift, to turn), ちゅうい�'そらす (to distract a person's attention). (various references)

Korean		흐트� �리십시�". (various references)

Manx		baanraghey (craze). (various references)

Norwegian		distrahere, avlede (derive, divert). (various references)

Pig Latin		istractday

Portuguese		distrair (abstract, call away, divert, enliven, entertain, neglect, recreate, take one's mind off), dispersar (break up, disband, disject, dismiss, dispel, disperse, dispose of, dissipate, drive away, scatter), confundir (addle, astonish, astound, baffle, befog, befuddle, bewilder, confound, confuse, confusing, confute, daze, dazzle, disarray, disconcert, dizzy, dumbfound, embarrass, embrangle, embroil, flabbergast, floor, flummox, flurry, fluster, fog, gravel, interfuse, intermingle, jumble, maze, mistake, mix up, moider, muddle, muddy, mull, nonplus, obfuscate, obscure, overwhelm, perplex, put out, puzzle, rattle, ravel, stagger), afastar (alienate, avert, call away, depart, deviate, dispel, diverge, divert, do away with, eliminate, estrange, fend, get rid of, hold off, keep away, keep off, lay off, make away, move away, obviate, relegate, remove, repel, retire, rid, separate, wean, withdraw). (various references)

Romanian		tulbura (agitate, bewilder, cloud, confuse, disconcert, disturb, flurry, flutter, fret, incommode, indispose, interrupt, intrude upon, Mar, muddle, muddy, perturb, puddle, ripple, stir, trouble, upset, vex, worry), sminti (deceive, delude, destroy, displace, harm, hinder, spoil), buimãci (amaze, astonish, astound, bewilder, dumbfound, flabbergast, flummox, horrify, stun, stupefy, surprise), abate (abbot, call away, deflect, divert, straggle, stray, swerve, turn). (various references)

Russian		отвлекать (avert, divert, head off). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		zbuniti (abash, addle, baffle, befuddle, bemuse, bepuzzle, bewilder, confound, confuse, discomfit, disconcert, embarrass, faze, maze, nonplus, perplex, perturb, pose, puzzle, rattle, stick, stump), rastrojiti (derange, unnerve, unstring, upset), odvratiti (answer back, avert, discourage, dissuade, divert, head off, turn away). (various references)

Spanish		distraer (abstract, amuse, divert, entertain, head off), confundir (abash, baffle, beat, befuddle, bewilder, confound, confuse, disarrange, discombobulate, dish, embrangle, flummox, fluster, Fox, mistake, mix, mix up, muddle, nonplus, obscure, rattle, throw), apartar (abduce, alienate, allure, avert, deviate, divert, divide, draw aside, draw away, draw off, fob, head off, hold off, keep apart, look away, lure away, move aside, move away, move over, push away, refract, separate, set aside, shut off, stave off, take away, throw aside, to deviate, turn aside, turn away). (various references)

Swedish		distrahera (disturb). (various references)

Turkish		dikkatini dağıtmak, delirtmek (bedevil, craze, drive mad, drive smb. nuts, madden), rahatsız etmek (ail, annoy, badger, bait, bother, chafe, chivvy, chivy, derange, devil, discomfort, discommode, disturb, get in smb.'s hair, goad, goad on, harass, hassle, hatchel, hump, incommode, inconvenience, irritate, make a draft on, pester, put smb. to inconvenience, put upon, trouble, twist smb.'s tail, worry), başka tarafa çekmek, şaşırtmak (addle, amaze, astonish, astound, baffle, bamboozle, bedevil, befog, befuddle, bemuse, bewilder, bowl over, confound, confuse, daze, discompose, disconcert, discountenance, dislocate, disorient, disorientate, embarrass, embrangle, flabbergast, floor, flummox, fuddle, give smb. a tumble, gravel, intrigue, jolt, knock back, mislead, moither, mystify, nonplus, obfuscate, perplex, put smb. out of countenance, puzzle, rattle, shock, startle, stick, stun, stupefy, surprise, take aback, wow), avutmak (cheer, cheer up, comfort, console, delude, relieve, solace), aklını karıştırmak (befuddle, disorientate, gravel). (various references)

Ukrainian		відволікати (abstract, amuse, divert, put off), затемняти розум, збивати з пантелику (cheat, maze, obfuscate, wander). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	adtoniti, adtonitis, avocare, avocate, distenti, distentionem, distringam, distringet. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "distract": distractable, distracted, distractedly, distractibilities, distractibility, distractible, distracting, distractingly, distraction, distractions, distractive, distracts. (additional references)
	Words containing "distract": undistracted. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Distract" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: dastra, destra, destract, dictrict, distact, distraut, distri, distric, districk, districtu, distridct, Distrito, dtstract. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "distract" (pronounced di'stra"kt)
6	-s t r a" k t	abstract, extract.
5	-t r a" k t	attract, detract, protract, retract, subtract, tracked, tract.
4	-r a" k t	cracked, diffract, racked, wracked.
3	-a" k t	act, attacked, backed, blacked, counterattacked, enact, exact, fact, hacked, impact, inexact, intact, interact, jacked, lacked, overreact, packed, pact, react, redact, reenact, repacked, sacked, slacked, smacked, stacked, tacked, tact, transact, unpacked, whacked.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-c-d-i-r-s-t-t"
	-1 letter: astrict, drastic.
	-2 letters: artist, attics, cairds, crista, darics, dicast, racist, static, strait, strati, strict, tracts, traits, triacs, triads.
	-3 letters: acids, acrid, adits, airts, asdic, astir, attic, cadis, caids, caird, cards, carts, daric, darts, dicta, dirts, ditas, drats, raids, scart, scatt, sitar, staid, stair, start, stria, tacit, tacts, tarsi, tarts, tract, trait, triac, triad.
	Words containing the letters "a-c-d-i-r-s-t-t"
	+1 letter: astricted, dictators, distracts, tetracids.
	+2 letters: abstricted, distracted, rusticated.
	+3 letters: contradicts, detractions, distracting, distraction, distractive, hydrostatic, kickstarted, straitlaced, wildcatters.
	+4 letters: artiodactyls, deactivators, decapitators, decorticates, decrepitates, dictatorship, directorates, distractable, distractedly, distractible, distractions, hydrostatics, resuscitated, tradescantia, transduction, undistracted.
	+5 letters: adventuristic, contrabandist, contradictors, decorticators, dictatorships, disarticulate, distractingly, documentarist, fluidextracts, indoctrinates, privatdocents, sacerdotalist, straightlaced, straitlacedly, tradescantias, transactinide, transductions, trisoctahedra, ultradistance.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.