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Definition of distract verb from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

distract

verb
 
/dɪˈstrækt/
 
/dɪˈstrækt/
Verb Forms
present simple I / you / we / they distract
 
/dɪˈstrækt/
 
/dɪˈstrækt/
he / she / it distracts
 
/dɪˈstrækts/
 
/dɪˈstrækts/
past simple distracted
 
/dɪˈstræktɪd/
 
/dɪˈstræktɪd/
past participle distracted
 
/dɪˈstræktɪd/
 
/dɪˈstræktɪd/
-ing form distracting
 
/dɪˈstræktɪŋ/
 
/dɪˈstræktɪŋ/
jump to other results
  1. distract somebody/something (from something) to take somebody’s attention away from what they are trying to do synonym divert
    • You're distracting me from my work.
    • Don't talk to her—she's very easily distracted.
    • It was another attempt to distract attention from the truth.
    • He’s easily distracted from his work
    • an attempt to distract attention away from the real problems in the country
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb
    • easily
    • momentarily
    • temporarily
    preposition
    • (away) from
    See full entry
    Word Originlate Middle English (also in the sense ‘pull in different directions’): from Latin distract- ‘drawn apart’, from the verb distrahere, from dis- ‘apart’ + trahere ‘to draw, drag’.
See distract in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee distract in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
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