sidetrack
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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sidetracks,
present (3rd person singular)
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sidetracked,
past participle, past
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sidetracking
present participle
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to move or distract from the main subject or course.
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to move from the main track to a siding, as a train.
noun
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sidetracks
plural
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any railroad track, other than a siding, that is auxiliary to the main track.
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a path, position, project, topic, etc., of less importance than the main one.
On a sidetrack to this thread on workplace safety, let me just say a little about office footwear.
verb
noun
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a railway siding
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the act or an instance of sidetracking; digression
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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sidetracksimple
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sidetrackssimple
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have sidetrackedperfect
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has sidetrackedperfect
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am sidetrackingprogressive
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are sidetrackingprogressive
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is sidetrackingprogressive
-
have been sidetrackingperfect progressive
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has been sidetrackingperfect progressive
Past
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sidetrackedsimple
-
had sidetrackedperfect
-
was sidetrackingprogressive
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were sidetrackingprogressive
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had been sidetrackingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sidetrack
Explanation
To sidetrack is to veer off a straight path, or to cause something (or someone) to do so. The smell of a rabbit in the woods might sidetrack your dog from coming when you call him. In addition to literally wandering off course, sidetrack can also be used figuratively, when someone gets distracted from a task or focus, like when your text messages sidetrack you from finishing your homework. You can sidetrack a conversation, too, by controlling it and steering it in a new direction: "She always sidetracks the conversation so we end up talking about television."
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 turned down assisting a professor with data analysis for a book, for instance, because it would have required substantial changes to his class schedule that would sidetrack his early graduation.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 4, 2026
When Devi tries to sidetrack Dr. Ryan, she pivots the conversation.
From Salon ● Jun. 19, 2023
A chorus of economists, including Larry Summers, the former Treasury secretary, say the banking sector instability should not sidetrack the Fed in its inflation-fighting campaign.
From New York Times ● Mar. 21, 2023
Georgieva told a conference in Washington that policymakers should adopt targeted measures to alleviate rising food and fuel prices, while avoiding steps that could fuel inflation or sidetrack monetary policy.
From Reuters ● Nov. 10, 2022
I led my army northward, rarely having to sidetrack; the emperor himself sent the enemies I was hunting chasing after me.
From "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston
He wants them amped up for when he faces jeopardy in criminal trials or if something sidetracks his nomination.
From Salon ● Nov. 15, 2023
“I hate spending energy and time on this kind of stuff because I feel like it sidetracks us,” state Sen. Shane Morigeau, a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, said Thursday.
From Washington Times ● Jan. 6, 2023
If the virus surges again, “it can’t be the kind of thing that sidetracks the country,” said Andy Slavitt, who served as a senior adviser on the response before stepping down last year.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 17, 2022
"I don't think upward movement in interest rates alone is going to be the catalyst that sidetracks the M&A market," said Morgan Stanley's Miles.
From Reuters ● Dec. 20, 2021
Also the different parts of the siege train and ammunition for same, which will be required immediately on landing, are scattered through hundreds of cars on the sidetracks of the railroads.
From The Career of Leonard Wood by Joseph Hamblen Sears
The two started an exchange about their respective career paths, but Danielle got sidetracked and left Drew hanging.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
The U.S. economy got sidetracked in February by tariff-related price increases, sluggish sales and the previous month’s Winter Storm Fern, but top executives were also more optimistic that business will improve later in the year.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 20, 2026
This, of course, means he can also get easily sidetracked, but it’s “one of the beauties of making music on your own.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2025
It’s worth reflecting that there is more to governing than legislating, and even powerful governments can get sidetracked.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2024
I let the sass slide because I was making a point and didn’t want to get sidetracked.
From "Gone Crazy in Alabama" by Rita Williams-Garcia
Attention then lurched to another hot-button environmental issue — the world’s largest dam removal on the Elwha River — further sidetracking efforts to extend wilderness areas.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 13, 2022
“People did it for me,” he says before sidetracking into bafflement over what GIF means.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2020
At one point he laments his sidetracking by drawing pictures of the plot line as strands of loops, switchbacks, and squiggles.
From Slate ● Jan. 7, 2016
Chamber of Commerce international economics head Myron Brilliant — that the two sides have set up a separate working group to help avoid sidetracking the rest of the discussion.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 10, 2013
For were it not for their skill in understanding the intricacies of the subject and in sidetracking irrelevant claims the disputes would be impossible of satisfactory arrangement.
From The Manóbos of Mindanáo Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume XXIII, First Memoir by John M. Garvan
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.
