diverting

[ dih-vur-ting, dahy- ]

adjective

Origin of diverting

First recorded in 1645–55; divert + -ing²

Day by day, it drives people to distraction by diverting energy to mindless legal compliance.
Red Tape Is Strangling Good Samaritans | Philip K. Howard | December 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
It had been a disaster, diverting farmers from the land, draining their grain supplies and ultimately starving millions.
How to Hide a Famine with Ping-Pong | Nicholas Griffin | January 9, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Four SUVs blocked the entrance to the lot, and a patrol car started diverting traffic.
The Devil’s Drug: The True Story of Meth in New Mexico | Nick Romeo | August 24, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
American officials are fully aware of the risk of Saleh diverting U.S. military aid.
The Next 9/11 | Ellen Knickmeyer | September 10, 2010 | THE DAILY BEAST
How much more diverting to focus on the villainy of a potty-mouthed Illinois pol.
Six Reasons to Thank Blago | Christopher Buckley | December 12, 2008 | THE DAILY BEAST

It combats ennui, lassitude, and intolerable vacuity, soothing the nerves and diverting attention from self.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce | E. R. Billings.
The convention as a spectacle was immensely diverting, but she had her misgivings about it as a transaction in history.
A Hoosier Chronicle | Meredith Nicholson
This Way of travelling is very commodious and diverting, and so swift, that an Arrow from a Cross-bow does not fly faster.
The Memoirs of Charles-Lewis, Baron de Pollnitz, Volume II | Karl Ludwig von Pllnitz
But although he never stirred out of the cradle, Gilly of the Goatskin had ways of diverting himself.
The King of Ireland's Son | Padraic Colum
Humour she really possessed; and when she chose it, she could be diverting to those who like buffoonery in women.
Tales And Novels, Volume 3 (of 10) | Maria Edgeworth

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