DictionaryAI

distract

USdi-STRAKT/dɪˈstɹækt/

Formsdistracts, distracting, distracted

4 meanings of distract

Practice

  1. 1
    verbtransitive
    To divert someone's attention away from what they are doing or should be focused on.

    A buzzing phone can distract anyone trying to concentrate.

    The salesman's chatter distracted her from reading the contract carefully.

    Similardivert, sidetrack, disturb

    Note

    Behind it is a physical picture. Latin distrahō, "to pull apart," comes from dis- and trahō, "to pull," so attention is dragged two ways at once. In use the verb takes a from-phrase for the task abandoned, as in distract players from the task at hand. In the passive it takes a by-phrase for the cause: distracted by a helicopter, by bashing a keyboard.

  2. 2
    verbtransitive
    To drive someone to madness; to make a person lose their reason.

    Prolonged isolation can distract even a strong mind.

    The endless waiting and uncertainty distracted him almost beyond reason.

    Similarmadden, unhinge, derange

    Note

    Here the pull goes far enough to tear the mind itself. That is the force left in the phrase "drive to distraction." In Addison's Cato (1713), a speaker says that virtues joined with success "distract my very soul." The object is a mind, a soul or a whole person, and the result is lasting disorder rather than a moment's lost focus. The old adjective "mad" names the state this verb produces.

  3. 3
    adjectiveobsolete
    Out of one's mind; insane or mentally deranged.

    By morning the prisoner was wholly distract, raving at the walls.

    Grief left the widow distract for many weeks.

    Note

    The obsolete adjective pictures madness as a mind pulled apart, which is what Latin distractus meant. In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Olivia sends for Malvolio and remembers that, poor gentleman, he is "much distract." Michael Drayton's Poly-Olbion (1612) has a wronged woman "outrageously distract" with grief. Modern English carries the idea through the verb of maddening and its participle distracted. The bare adjective has dropped out of use.

Less common meaning

  1. 4
    adjectiveobsolete
    Drawn apart; pulled in different directions or separated.
    Note

    The most literal survivor of Latin distractus, and long obsolete. It is an old participle used as an adjective for things split or divided, not for a troubled mind. It takes no comparative, so there is no "more distract." Today's writers say separated or drawn apart. In older prose it is easily mistaken for the adjective meaning "mad", which shares its spelling.

Practice

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Origin

Borrowed from Latin distractus, from distrahō ("to pull apart"), which combines dis- with trahō ("to pull").