detract
to take away a part, as from quality, value, or reputation (usually followed by from).
to draw away or divert; distract: to detract another's attention from more important issues.
Archaic. to take away (a part); abate: The dilapidated barn detracts charm from the landscape.
Origin of detract
1Other words from detract
- de·tract·ing·ly, adverb
- de·trac·tor, noun
- un·de·tract·ing, adjective
- un·de·tract·ing·ly, adverb
Words Nearby detract
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use detract in a sentence
That does give us all pause — but it doesn’t take away or detract from where I think the market is headed.
With the Metaverse hype cycle at full blast, experts take the long view | Alexander Lee | August 4, 2021 | DigidayThis new lens hardly detracts from Linda’s magnificent saga.
Amazon’s Divine Period Romance The Pursuit of Love Gives Classic Social Satire a Modern Twist | Judy Berman | July 30, 2021 | TimeMore frustrating is the way its stage-managed surface detracts from everything that’s more distinctive and spontaneous about the Haarts’ story.
Netflix’s My Unorthodox Life Is More Bravo Docusoap Than Real-Life Unorthodox | Judy Berman | July 14, 2021 | TimeExperts fear such fake news detracts from how trafficking really happens.
If they keep throwing curve balls or adding on things, that detracts from what they’ve hired us to do.
‘It can easily spin out of control’: Confessions of a freelance creative on the rise of scope creep | Kristina Monllos | June 10, 2021 | Digiday
“Pillows are ‘light,’ ‘fluffy,’ and may detract from our message,” she wrote.
His conservatism, which is more of a cultural than political kidney, seems to fascinate, delight or detract critics.
Whit Stillman on the 20th Anniversary of ‘Barcelona’, His New Amazon Series, and the Myth of the Ugly Expat | Michael Weiss | August 10, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAbortion-rights advocates by no means seek to detract from LGBT movement or begrudge it victories.
But the religious iconography did not detract from the excitement brewing in the room.
Thom Browne’s Women’s Line Evolves in the Wake of Michelle Obama’s Inaugural Ensemble | Misty White Sidell | February 12, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTClarence Thomas had 48 votes against him, a fact that does not, alas, detract a whit from his votes and opinions.
She was growing a little stout, but it did not seem to detract an iota from the grace of every step, pose, gesture.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories | Kate ChopinAnd to confirmeYour grace towards me, against all such as may detract my actions, and life hereafter,I now preferre it to you.
The Fatal Dowry | Philip MassingerIt does not detract from his merits, it rather adds thereto, that his brush was also photographic.
The Pilgrim's Shell or Fergan the Quarryman | Eugne SueIf I add that he is in one respect to be included among the most virulent, I do not necessarily detract from his value.
Devil-Worship in France | Arthur Edward WaiteNor does it detract from his fame as a man of genius that he did not originate the most profound of his declarations.
Beacon Lights of History, Volume II | John Lord
British Dictionary definitions for detract
/ (dɪˈtrækt) /
(when intr, usually foll by from) to take away a part (of); diminish: her anger detracts from her beauty
(tr) to distract or divert
(tr) obsolete to belittle or disparage
Origin of detract
1usage For detract
Derived forms of detract
- detractingly, adverb
- detractive or detractory, adjective
- detractively, adverb
- detractor, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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