diverting
Americanadjective
Other Word 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.
In 1941, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power began diverting water from streams that feed the lake, sending it to the City of Angels via its controversial aqueduct.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026
You talk about taking the slow road to retirement, not diverting down dirt tracks leading you to the Emerald City of AI, and how it seems, well, boring and safe.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 12, 2026
However, critics said the plans would not save money, while diverting resources from front-line services and leaving councils more remote from their communities.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
World Vision’s Gaza director, Mohammad Halabi, was arrested by Israeli police in June 2016 and convicted in 2022 for siphoning off up to $50 million and diverting it to Hamas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
By diverting snowmelt from the ever-present Andes icecaps to high farm terraces, Wari was able literally to rise above the drought and flooding of lower elevations.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
