distracted
Americanadjective
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having the attention diverted.
She tossed several rocks to the far left and slipped past the distracted sentry.
-
rendered incapable of behaving, reacting, etc., in a normal manner, as by worry, remorse, or the like; irrational; disturbed.
adjective
-
bewildered; confused
-
mad
Other Word Forms
- distractedly adverb
- distractedness noun
- nondistracted adjective
- nondistractedly adverb
- undistracted adjective
- undistractedly adverb
- undistractedness noun
Etymology
Origin of distracted
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.
These can detect when drivers are distracted, if you’re hard braking and rapidly accelerating or if you’re often driving late at night — all things which signal to insurance companies that you might be a liability.
From MarketWatch
However, a quartermaster was distracted from lookout duty while reading an agency report about the Clinton-to-Mukilteo route, the report said.
From Seattle Times
In recent weeks, Republican lawmakers have sought to blame the banks’ failure on distracted executives and on insufficiently stringent supervision by bank examiners at the Federal Reserve.
From New York Times
“It is very easy to get distracted from a task by one difficult challenge,” Mr. Mollick wrote in a recent blog post.
From New York Times
“There is benefit to making it a flashing yellow arrow, rather than a green ball, because drivers misinterpret a green ball to mean they have the right of way. Especially these days, with distracted drivers.”
From Seattle Times
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.
