sidetrack
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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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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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
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have sidetrackedperfect
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has sidetrackedperfect 3rd person singular
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am sidetrackingprogressive 1st person singular
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have been sidetrackingperfect progressive
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are sidetrackingprogressive
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has been sidetrackingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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is sidetrackingprogressive 3rd person singular
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sidetrackingparticiple
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sidetrackssingular 3rd person
Past
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had sidetrackedperfect
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had been sidetrackingperfect progressive
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was sidetrackingprogressive singular
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were sidetrackingprogressive plural
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sidetrackedsimple
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sidetrackedparticiple
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.
I expressed these concerns to Balof after I finished interviewing him at Sidetrack.
From Salon • Dec. 10, 2022
Sidetrack in Chicago was one of the first to dump its Russian vodka, with the movement spreading throughout Chicago to Austin, Texas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.
From Newsweek • Jul. 30, 2013
Beyond that, will there be new dispatches from the Sidetrack Tap and the Chatterbox Cafe?
From Time Magazine Archive
Later I dropped by the Sidetrack Tap and fell into another kind of discussion.
From Time Magazine Archive
Mel didn’t call him Spaceman or Moonface or Sidetrack or Dude or anything else—she called him by his name.
From "Bone Gap" by Laura Ruby
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.
