distract
Americanverb (used with object)
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distracts,
present (3rd person singular)
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distracted,
past participle, past
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distracting
present participle
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to draw away or divert, as the mind or attention.
The music distracted him from his work.
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to disturb or trouble greatly in mind; beset.
Grief distracted him.
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to provide a pleasant diversion for; amuse; entertain.
I'm bored with bridge, but golf still distracts me.
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to separate or divide by dissension or strife.
adjective
verb
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(often passive) to draw the attention of (a person) away from something
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to divide or confuse the attention of (a person)
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to amuse or entertain
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to trouble greatly
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to make mad
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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distracternoun
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distractibilitynoun
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distractibleadjective
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distractingadjective
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distractiveadjective
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nondistractingadjective
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undistractingadjective
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distractinglyadverb
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distractivelyadverb
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nondistractinglyadverb
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undistractinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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distractsimple
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distractssimple
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have distractedperfect
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has distractedperfect
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am distractingprogressive
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are distractingprogressive
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is distractingprogressive
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have been distractingperfect progressive
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has been distractingperfect progressive
Past
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distractedsimple
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had distractedperfect
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was distractingprogressive
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were distractingprogressive
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had been distractingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of distract
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin distractus “drawn apart,” past participle of distrahere “to draw apart,” from dis- dis- 1 + trahere “to draw”
Explanation
Distract is what you do when you draw someone’s attention — Hey! Look! Over there! Oh. Never mind. What was I saying? That’s right: distract is to draw attention away from what someone is doing. Distract comes from the Latin word for “draw apart.” It can be annoying when someone or something distracts you. A loud car alarm or a talkative friend might distract you when you’re watching your favorite TV show. But being distracted is not always bad. Playing a round of miniature golf might distract you from feeling sad about the death of your parakeet.
Vocabulary lists containing distract
List 3
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "D"
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"In the Spotlight," Vocabulary from the informational text
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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.
See Examples For:
He’s so instantly believable that the movie doesn’t need its traumatic flashbacks to their childhood that distract more than deepen.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
"I have no intention of letting Mr Giuffra's unfair criticism distract my office from getting to the truth."
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
With mounting Russian attacks on the capital, his family is in "constant stress" and he tries to distract himself by planting tomatoes.
From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026
To distract the dog from biting them, they said, they fed it cereal they’d taken from a neighboring house where Yakeschi’s aunt lived.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
Ella tried to distract herself by cleaning up the cages and greeting the different birds, but her thoughts swarmed in her head.
From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton
Ultimately, the fixation on Hasan Piker distracts from more substantive issues.
From Salon ● May 2, 2026
He added speculation about Sr Keir's leadership and constant rumours about who might replace him "distracts and detracts" from the job Labour MPs were trying to do.
From BBC ● Apr. 29, 2026
"Looking back and revisiting something that we already know about kind of relieves that anxiety, or it kind of just distracts us from all of the current changes that are happening."
From Barron's ● Apr. 8, 2026
Janice Hahn, a Los Angeles County supervisor, said having Wasserman “represent us on the world stage distracts focus from our athletes and the enormous effort needed to prepare for 2028.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 19, 2026
If this were the sort of story that believed in eerie coincidences, we might say that the birth of Lisa Gherardini distracts Leonardo from his altarpiece.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
The proposal is breathtaking in its audacity, so much so that you could be forgiven for being distracted by all the elements and missing the bigger picture.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
Mr. Craighead was raised by a distracted mother and a reviled stepfather.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
Entertainer Josephine Baker, disco icons Dianna Ross and Donna Summer, and Olympic gold-medal-winning sprinter Florence Griffith-Joyner - whose dramatic acrylic sets often distracted headline writers from her record-setting performances - have all pioneered nail art.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
All that rickrack distracted from what was otherwise a fairly satisfying but predictable slate of wins.
From Salon ● Sep. 15, 2026
But Danny’s mind felt like this one time he was on a carousel and the kid manning the controls got distracted and pressed the wrong button.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
The sets have too many doors, the scenes have a delirious number of extras and the actors yell their lines over the distracting clatter of crackling fireplaces, beeping machines and ticking clocks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2026
Owens herself manages to do a bang-up job of distracting people from the way she doesn’t practice what she preaches.
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026
The gift, and the parliamentary investigation into it, attracted more attention than the party would have liked in recent months, distracting from its policy announcements on immigration and welfare.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026
These were almost as distracting as the dancing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
"I told you that I didn't want any picture taking during rehearsals. Put that camera away. In fact, you're not allowed to bring it to rehearsals anymore. It's too distracting to the other dancers."
From "The Cinderella Ballet Mystery: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, #4" by Carolyn Keene
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.
