distractor
Americannoun
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a person or thing that distracts the attention.
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an incorrect choice among multiple-choice answers on a test.
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.
A good soothing distractor can be better than the familiar techniques people tend to turn to at night, such as muscle relaxation and visualizations.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 3, 2022
Sure enough, Arnold’s group approached and took down the distractor.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 5, 2020
In the car, it is a navigator, a radio, a nagging distractor and a ready accessory to manslaughter; at work, it is both a vigilant assistant and an eager fellow shirker.
From New York Times ● May 16, 2018
Some researchers have reasoned that increasing a person’s cognitive load while asking them questions can act as a sort of distractor, making certain “tells” or nervous behaviors indicative of lying much more apparent.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 16, 2012
At length Williams was banished as a distractor of the public peace, but a popular uproar attended his departure, and the greater part of the inhabitants were with difficulty dissuaded from following him.
From The Conquest of Canada (Vol. 1 of 2) by George Warburton
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.
