diverting
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of diverting
Explanation
Something that's diverting is a pleasant distraction. A movie on a long bus ride — even a bad movie — is diverting. The adjective diverting describes anything that grabs your attention, especially if it's entertaining and distracts from something less interesting. Spending time with a friend can be diverting when you're waiting to hear important news or get the results of a big test, and a good, diverting book is the perfect thing to take on a boring train commute. Diverting stems from the verb divert, or "distract," from its Latin root, divertere, "to turn in different directions."
Vocabulary lists containing diverting
A Wrinkle in Time
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12 More Interesting Ways to Say "interesting"
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A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Diverting those tonnages from landfill or incineration can "improve our recycling rate as a nation quite significantly", he explained.
From BBC • Feb. 24, 2026
Diverting reads range from vintage magazines to Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker’s bizarre weight-loss guide.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 3, 2025
Diverting more traffic into the polluted community is going to make it worse, said Ed Avol, an expert on the health effects of air pollution.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 4, 2024
Diverting water can harm the river’s ecology, depriving species of the water they rely on.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 12, 2023
Our Converse at these Times is exceeding Diverting; him relating curious Stories of Animals or Roman Iniquity, & me relating Tales of the Village, the Cooperage, & the Mill.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
