Divert

Definition: Divert

Divert

Verb

1. Turn aside; turn away from.

2. Send on a course or in a direction different from the planned or intended one.

3. Occupy in an agreeable, entertaining or pleasant fashion; "The play amused the ladies".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "divert" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references)

Literature

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

Synonyms: Divert

Amusement

Verb: amuse, entertain, divert, enliven; tickle the fancy; raise a smile, put in good humor; cause laughter, create laughter, occasion laughter, raise laughter, excite laughter, produce laughter, convulse with laughter; set the table in a roar, be the death of one.

Deception

Decoy, waylay, lure, beguile, delude, inveigle; entrap, intrap, ensnare; nick, springe; set a trap, lay a trap, lay a snare for; bait the hook, forelay, spread the toils, lime; trapan, trepan; kidnap; let in, hook in; nousle, nousel; blind a trail; enmesh, immesh; shanghai; catch, catch in a trap; sniggle, entangle, illaqueate, hocus, escamoter, practice on one's credulity; hum, humbug; gammon, stuff up, sell; play a trick upon one, play a practical joke upon one, put something over on one, put one over on; balk, trip up, throw a tub to a whale; fool to the top of one's bent, send on a fool's errand; make game, make a fool of, make an April fool of, make an ass of; trifle with, cajole, flatter; come over; (influence); gild the pill, make things pleasant, divert, put a good face upon; dissemble.

Deviation

Intervert; deflect; divert, divert from its course; put on a new scent, shift, shunt, draw aside, crook, warp.

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.

Incogitancy

Put away thought; unbend the mind, relax the mind, divert the mind, veg out.

Neglect

Render neglectful; Adjective: put off one's guard, throw off one's guard; distract, divert.

Crosswords: Divert

Italian (fun).

Books

• Dogmatic Wisdom: How the Cultural Wars Divert Education and Distract America (reference)

  (more book examples)

Music

• Mozart: Piano Trios Kv 496 & 502, Divert [IMPORT] (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

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

Diversion terrace in Guthrie County, Iowa. Diversion terraces collect runoff from water above them and safely divert the water away from land that might otherwise be damaged by the runoff. Credit: Lynn Betts.

Broad-based terrace is designed as a diversion terrace to divert runoff away from the cornfield below. Credit: Lynn Betts.

Workers build a 'water bar' to divert runoff on steep slopes. Credit: Unknown.

Can't we start something to divert his attention?. Credit: Library of Congress.

Mr. Johnson, FSA (Farm Security Administration) client with part interest in cooperative well using a makeshift dam of tumbleweeds and board in order to divert water from irrigation ditch to field, Syracuse, Kansas. Credit: Library of Congress.

Homemade pile driver making a wing deflector to divert river current. Indiana. Credit: Library of Congress.

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

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

You divert me against my conscience

He looked about for something that could honorably divert his attention, saw a red chicken go mincing by, and ran at it.

Another day Glumdalclitch left me on a smooth grass plot to divert myself while she walked at some distance with her governess

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Economic History

Chad

In 1998, however, a former government minister initiated a rebellion in Chad's north that continues to divert government resources and attention from much-needed economic development. (references)

Greece

Hitler was forced to divert German troops to protect his southern flank and attacked Greece in early April 1941. By the end of May, the Germans had overrun most of the country, although Greek resistance was never entirely suppressed. (references)

Human Rights

Burma

For example, the SHRF reported that on January 2, army troops shot and killed six farmers on the outskirts of Nam-Zarng township who were attempting to divert water from a stream to their rice paddies. (references)

Travel

Spain

The thieves typically divert the driver's attention by pointing out a mechanical problem then steal items from the vehicle while the driver is looking away. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Expressions using "divert": aqueduct to divert water supplies ♦ divert from ♦ divert one's attention ♦ divert the mind ♦ to divert traffic. Additional references.

Ending with "divert": un-divert.

Afrikaans

besighou (abstract, distract, entertain), afvoer (abduce, abduct, abduction, carrying, carrying off, discharge). (various references)

Albanian

devijoj (digress, diverge, sidetrack), zbavit (amuse), largoj (avert, avoid, brush away, brush off, call off, cast out, despatch, dislodge, dismiss, dispatch, dispel, eliminate, estrange, freeze out, keep away, keep off, lead off, lift out, pack off, push aside, push away, push off, put off, relegate, remove, seclude, stave off, take away, turn, wean, whiffle), i ndërroj drejtimin, argëtoj (amuse, beguile, entertain, recreate, regale). (various references)

Arabic 

‏حول (ability, about, alien, around, be cross eyed, bleach, capricious, commit, concerning, deed, deliver, deter, encode, hand down, hand over, make, metamorphose, power, process, redress, refer, relocate, round, stop, switch, transfer, transmute, transpose, turn, whimsical, withdraw, work, year), ‏سلى (amuse, beguile, console, entertain, solace), ‏سر (breeze, brighten, delight, gladden, gratify, mystery, please, pleasure, reserve, satisfy, secret, steer), ‏إنحرف (astrict, deflect, depart, deviate, deviate from, diverge, drift, incline, jibe, jump, nose, pervert, sidetrack, skew, slew, slue, squint, stray, swerve, swing, turn, veer), ‏ألهى (amuse, beguile, distract). (various references)

Bulgarian 

развличам (amuse, recreate), отклонявам (abduct, avert, bend, call off, deflect, detract, deviate, disincline, divagate, fence off, head off, put off, shunt, siphon off, stave off, swerve, throw down, throw off, turn aside, turn off, wave away), отвличам (abduct, abstract, call off, carry off, distract, hijack, kidnap, reave, snatch away, steal away, take away, turn off), забавлявам (amuse, entertain, lark, panic, regale). (various references)

Chinese 

轉移 (migrate, shift), 牵制 (Diversion, Diverted, Diverting), 使轉向 . (various references)

Czech

rozptýlit (amuse, banish, diffuse, dispel, disperse, dissipate, distract, resolve, strew), pobavit (entertain, tickle), odvrátit (avert, foil, head off, keep off, stave off, stem, turn, ward off), odvést (carry off, drain away, lead off, pay, take away, walk off, walk off with), odklonit (deflect), odchýlit (deflect, swerve, turn away, warp). (various references)

Danish

omdestinere (to change arrangements, to divert, to give other instructions), laegge en togvej (to divert a train, to switch over a train), kanal for omledning af vand (aqueduct to divert water supplies), grundvandsafledning (piping to divert groundwater), forslaebe (to divert), fejllede (to divert), fastlaegge en togvej (to divert a train, to prepare a route, to set up a route, to switch over a train), en betydelig trafik omdirigeres (to divert a significant volume of traffic). (various references)

Dutch

verstrooien (abstract, disperse, distract, entertain), afleiden (abduce, abduct, abstract, deduce, derive, distract, entertain, extract, gather, induce, infer). (various references)

Esperanto

distri (distract, entertain), forkonduki. (various references)

Farsi 

منحرف کردن (Alienate, Bend, Calloff, Deflect, Pervert, Shunt, Swerve, Warp, Wring), متوجه کردن (Lend), معطوف داشتن (Lend). (various references)

Finnish

viihdyttää (lull, quiet, soothe), suunnata toisaalle, suunnata (aim, direct, direct one's steps to, guide, head for, level, make for, manage, point, steer, steer to, turn), kääntää toisaalle, huvittaa (amuse, entertain, interest), häiritä (abstract, distract, disturb, entertain, inconvenience, interfere, jam, trouble). (various references)

French

distraire (distract). (various references)

Frisian

ôfliede (abduce, abduct, derive), ôffiere (abduce, abduct). (various references)

German

zerstreuen (abstract, allay, amuse, charm away, diffuse, dispel, disperse, disseminate, dissipate, distract, entertain, lay, lull, resolve, scatter, sow, to allay, to disperse, to scatter), umleiten (bypass, deflect, redirect, reroute, to deflect, to divert), ableiten (abstract, channel off, conduct, deduce, deflect, derivate, derive, differentiate, dissipate, draw off, gather, to derivate, to dissipate, to divert, to drain, turn away). (various references)

Greek 

μετατρέπω (alter, commute, convert, reduce, transform, transmute), παρεκτρέπω, εκτρέπω (deflect). (various references)

Hebrew 

לשעשע (amuse, tickle), ל�"פלי�' (exaggerate, sail, set sail, travel by ship), ל�"טות (abduce, heel, slant, steer, tilt), ל�"סיח (remove), לב�"ר (amuse, delight, entertain, scatter, sport). (various references)

Hungarian

elterel (deflect, to avert, to baffle, to by-pass the traffic, to deflect, to detour, to divert, to shunt, to side-track, to siphon off), eltérít (angle, bias, detour, distract, 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, distract), membelokkan (deflect, distort, put about), memalingkan (alter the course of, swing round). (various references)

Italian

divertire (amuse, amuse oneself, enjoy oneself, entertain, have fun, panic, recreate), distogliere (alight, argue, avert, deter, dissuade, distract), dirottare (change course, deviate, hijack, skyjack), deviare (baffle, deflect, deviate, glance, offset, sheer, shunt, siphon, slant, stray, switch, wander), derivare (accrue, arise, come, derive, descend, drift, ensue, follow, issue, originate, originate from, proceed, result, rise, shunt, spring, stem), sviare (deviate, distract, go astray, lead astray, mislead, misrepresent, sidetrack, swerve, turn, turn aside), svagare (amuse, amuse oneself, distract attention, distract one's mind, entertain), stornare (avert, cancel, countermand, transfer, turn aside), ritrarre (depict, draw back, get out, picture, portray, portray oneself, represent, retract). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

転換 (convert). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

て�"か�" (convert, epilepsy, epileptic fit, exhibit, Milky Way). (various references)

Korean 

기분� �환하십시�". (various references)

Manx

cleayney (attract, bank, circumvent, decoy, deviate, dispose, distort, distortion, diversion, draw off, incline, induce, influence, inveigle, list, penchant, persuasion, perversion, predilection, predispose, recede, seduce, stoop, tend, tend as garden, trend, vamp, veer), chyndaa ersooyl (turn away). (various references)

Norwegian

omdirigere, avlede (derive, distract), adspre. (various references)

Pig Latin

ivertday.(various references)

Portuguese

divertir (amuse, amusing, beguile, disport, entertain, exhilarate, jollify, kittle, recreate, tickle), distrair (abstract, call away, distract, enliven, entertain, neglect, recreate, take one's mind off). (various references)

Romanian

distrage atenţia, distrage (relax), distra (amuse, enjoy, entertain, recreate), dezmierda (blandish, caress, chuck, cosher, cosset, delight, flatter, fondle, pet, smooth, stroke), deriva (derive), delecta (delight, entertain, feast, flatter, gladden), rãsfãţa (amuse, caress, Cocker, coddle, cosher, dandle, fondle, indulge, mollycoddle, pamper, pet, spoil), amuza (amuse, entertain, recreate, tickle), abate de la (avert, deter from), abate (abbot, call away, deflect, distract, straggle, stray, swerve, turn), înveseli (amuse, cheer, deck, elevate, enliven, exhilarate, gladden, jazz up, joy, liven, rejoice, smooth). (various references)

Russian 

отвлекать (avert, distract, head off). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

skrenuti (avert, deflect, shunt, sidetrack, switch, turn), razonoditi (beguile), odvratiti (answer back, avert, discourage, dissuade, distract, head off, turn away). (various references)

Spanish

desviar (abduce, abduct, aberrate, deflect, deviate, dissuade, draw off, head off, look away, Parry, put off, switch off, turn around, turn aside, ward off). (various references)

Swedish

förströ (distract, entertain), avleda (avert, carry off, deflect, derive, detract, distract, drain, drain off, intercept, sluice). (various references)

Thai

เบี่ยงเบน (deviate), ทำให้สนุกสนาน (tickle). (various references)

Turkish

dağıtmak (be on the loose, bestrew, break on, crack up, deal, deal out, decompose, deliver, demount, deploy, diffuse, disband, disject, disjoint, dismantle, dispel, dispense, disperse, disrupt, dissipate, dissolve, distribute, Dot, drown, fling off, hand out, issue, litter, mete out, pass out, rag, rough up, ruffle, rumple, scatter, strew, tumble), yönlendirmek (canalize, conduct, direct, guide, head, incline, lead, Orient, orientate, parlay, process, prompt, shape, shoo, stage, steer, sway), oyalamak (amuse, delay, embroider, entertain, put off, stall, stall off, string along, temporize, waste smb.'s time), eğlendirmek (amuse, beguile, break up, entertain, feast, recreate, regale, tickle), bir köşeye koymak, başka yöne çekmek, ayırmak (abstract, allocate, allot, allow, appropriate, assort, book, choose, classify, comb, comb out, contradistinguish, cut off, cut out, demarcate, detach, devote, disband, discard, disembody, disjoin, disrupt, dissever, dissociate, distinguish, disunite, divide, divorce, divorce from, earmark, except, hive off, insulate, intend for, isolate, keep apart, mark out, part, particularize, partition, partition off, pick out, portion, reduce, reserve, resolve, seclude, segregate, select, separate, sequester, set apart, set aside, sever, shut off, single out, snatch away from, snatch from, sort, sort out, spare, specialize, split, spread, spread out, sunder, sweep off, take apart, tear away, tear off, unpick, unstick, wall, winnow), çevirmek (assemble, avert, bowl, change to, commute, convert, decline, deflect, encircle, enclose, exchange, flip, flip over, hedge in, hedge round, inclose, interpret, manage, point, point on, pull, render, revert, roll, roll over, screw, slew, slew round, slue, slue round, spin, surround, switch to, translate, translate into, turn, turn into, turn on, turn over, turn to, twiddle, twirl, upturn, whip, wind, wind up, zone). (various references)

Turkmen 

sowmak (consume, spend money, urn around). (various references)

Ukrainian

розважати (amuse, beguile, entertain), відхиляти (avert, challenge, ignore, lead off, negative, non-concur, override, reject, repel, repudiate, ride over, swerve, turn aside), відволікати (abstract, amuse, distract, put off). (various references)

Welsh

difyrru (amuse, beguile), diddanu (amuse, comfort). (various references)

aversa, aversae, aversi, aversum, aversus, avertam, avertantur, avertas, avertat, avertatur, averte, avertebant, avertens, avertent, avertente, avertentem, avertentur, avertere, averterem, averterentur, averteret, averteris, averterit, averterunt, avertes, avertet, avertetur, averti, avertis, avertissem, avertisset, avertisti, avertit, avertite, avertitque, avertuntur, avocare, avocate, avoco, devertant, deverte, devertebat, devertere, deverterent, deverterunt, deverteruntque, devertit, diversa, diversam, diversarum, diversarumque, diversi, diversis, diverso, diversorum, diversos, diversum, diversus, divertentes, divertere, divertit, retractu, retrahas, retrahe, retrahente, retrahere, retraxerunt, retraxit. (various references)

disporter. (various references)

amuser. (various references)

Derivations

Words beginning with "divert": diverted, diverter, diverters, diverticula, diverticular, diverticulitis, diverticulitises, diverticuloses, diverticulosis, diverticulum, divertimenti, divertimento, divertimentos, diverting, divertissement, divertissements, diverts. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Divert" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: adiver, daver, devent, devet, dibert, dietro, Dijver, dilert, Disert, divat, diverit, diverte, diverti, divvent, dubversh, dver, livert, Mivart. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-1 letter: diver, drive, rived, rivet, tired, tried.

-2 letters: diet, dire, dirt, dite, dive, edit, ired, ride, rite, rive, tide, tied, tier, tire, vert, vide, vied, vier.

-3 letters: dev, die, dit, ire, red, rei, ret, rev, rid, ted, tie, vet, vie.

-4 letters: de, ed, er, et, id, it, re, ti.

+1 letter: diverts, riveted, strived, thrived, verdict.

+2 letters: derivate, deviator, deviltry, diverted, diverter, durative, inverted, outdrive, overedit, rivetted, variated, verdicts, verditer, vibrated.

+3 letters: adversity, adverting, advertise, advertize, contrived, decretive, depravity, derivates, detersive, deviators, deviatory, devitrify, directive, divergent, diversity, diverters, diverting, duratives, outdriven, outdrives, overedits, overtimed, overtired, provident, radiative, reductive, reinvited, retrieved, revisited, servitude, travailed, verditers, vitrified, vitrioled.