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distract

verb
/dɪˈstɹækt/

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin distractus, from distrahō (“to pull apart”), from dis- + trahō (“to pull”).

  1. borrowed from distractus

Definitions

  1. To divert the attention of.

    • The crowd was distracted by a helicopter hovering over the stadium when the only goal of the game was scored.
    • While Gunners boss Arsene Wenger had warned his players against letting the pre-match festivities distract them from the task at hand, they clearly struggled for fluency early on.

  2. To divert (attention).

    • It is recorded in the Talmud that there was no water organ [...] at the Temple, because of its sweet and powerful voice which was able to distract attention from the traditional instruments.

  3. To make crazy or insane

    To make crazy or insane; to drive to distraction.

    • By Heav’ns, ſuch Virtues, join’d with ſuch Succeſs, Diſtract my very Soul: Our Father’s Fortune Wou’d almoſt tempt us to renounce his Precepts.
  4. ›+ 2 more definitions

    1. Drawn asunder

      Drawn asunder; separated.

    2. Insane, mad.

      • Ol[ivia]. […] Fetch Maluolio hither, / And yet alas, novv I remember me, / They ſay poore Gentleman, he's much diſtract. […] Did he vvrite this? / Clo[wn]. I [aye] Madame. / Du[ke Orsino]. This ſauours not much of diſtraction.
      • Alone ſhee beeing left the ſpoyle of loue and death, / In labour of her griefe outrageouſly diſtract, / The utmoſt of her ſpleene on her falſe Lord to act […]

The neighborhood

Derived

distractable, distractee, distracter, distractful, distractive, distractor

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at distract. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01distract02drive03compel04coerce05intimidation06deterring07deter

A definitional loop anchored at distract. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

7 hops · closes at distract

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA