Meaning & use
distract
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To take someone's attention away from what they are doing or focusing on.
Grammar: Takes a person as object: distract someone. Do not say 'distract someone's attention'.
Patterns
- distract someone
- distract someone from something
The loud music distracted me from my homework.
Don't distract the driver while she's on the phone.
He tried to distract her with a joke.
verbtransitive
To make someone feel calmer or less upset, especially by giving them something else to think about.
Grammar: Often used with 'from' to show what is being avoided.
Patterns
- distract someone from something
She played music to distract herself from the pain.
They tried to distract him from his worries.
A good book can distract you from your problems.
Word forms
| third person singular | distracts |
|---|---|
| past tense | distracted |
| past participle | distracted |
| -ing form | distracting |
Common combinations
- distract attention
- The scandal distracted attention from the real issues.
- easily distracted
- Children can be easily distracted by noise.
- distract someone from something
- The noise distracted me from my work.
- try to distract
- He tried to distract her with a funny story.
Synonyms and how they differ
- divert
- More formal; often used for redirecting attention or traffic, not just people.
- disturb
- Means to interrupt or bother someone; it does not always imply taking attention away.
- sidetrack
- Informal; means to make someone leave the main topic or task, often for a while.
Opposites
Word family
- distraction noun
- Something that takes your attention away.
- distracted adjective
- Unable to concentrate because your attention is elsewhere.
- distracting adjective
- Taking attention away; making it hard to concentrate.
Commonly confused: distract or detract?
distract vs detract
Detract means to reduce the value or importance of something, often with 'from': The noise detracts from the beauty. Distract means to take attention away.
Practice
Which sentence is correct?
Choose one answer.
The verb 'distract' takes a person as object and uses 'from' to show what the person is taken away from. Option 1 is wrong because 'distract' does not take an activity as object. Options 2 and 3 use incorrect prepositions or word order.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “distract”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.