distract

present (v1)

distract

past (v2)

distracted

past participle (v3)

distracted

present participle

distracting

3rd person singular

distracts

1. 1.To divert the attention of.

   • The crowd was distracted by a helicopter hovering over the stadium when the only goal of the game was scored.
   • While Gunners boss Arsene Wenger had warned his players against letting the pre-match festivities distract them from the task at hand, they clearly struggled for fluency early on.
   • I eschew the idea of plugging in my laptop to take notes and resort to old-fashioned pen and paper instead, so that I can enjoy more of the view and not be distracted by bashing a keyboard.

2. 2.To divert (attention).

   • It is recorded in the Talmud that there was no water organ [..] at the Temple, because of its sweet and powerful voice which was able to distract attention from the traditional instruments.

3. 3.To make crazy or insane; to drive to distraction.

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