distract

distract — verb

1. to cause someone to lose focus on what they are doing because something else pul

1.verbtransitiveB1
Definition

to cause someone to lose focus on what they are doing because something else pulls their attention away

Example

Loud music from the street distracted Joon while she studied for her chemistry exam.

Young children are easily distracted by bright colours and sudden movements.

passive: be easily distracted by [stimuli]

Common collocations
  • distract from
  • distract with
  • distract by
  • easily distracted
  • distract attention
Synonyms
  • divert

    more formal, often used for rerouting attention or resources rather than just breaking focus

  • occupy

    suggests keeping someone busy or engaged, not necessarily pulling focus away from something else

Antonyms
  • focus

    to direct and hold attention steadily on one thing

  • concentrate

    to give all your attention to a task without letting other things interfere

Grammar Patterns

distract + object + from + noun/gerund

distract + object + with + noun

be distracted by + noun

Usage Note

The object is often a person or an animal whose concentration is broken. The thing causing the loss of focus is introduced by the preposition 'by' in passive sentences. 'From' introduces the activity that was interrupted. 'With' introduces the thing used to pull attention away.

Common Mistakes

The noise disturbed me from my homework.
The noise distracted me from my homework.
'disturb' means to interrupt or bother; 'distract' means to pull attention away.
I was distracting by the television.
I was distracted by the television.
In passive constructions, the past participle 'distracted' is needed, not the present participle.

distract — adjective

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

All four words involve directing attention elsewhere, but they differ in intensity and duration. 'Distract' is the most common and neutral — it simply means pulling focus away, often temporarily and unintentionally ('Traffic noise distracted him'). 'Divert' is more formal and suggests a deliberate rerouting of attention or resources ('The government diverted funds to healthcare'). 'Occupy' implies keeping someone busy or engaged ('The puzzle occupied the children for hours') without necessarily implying that they should be doing something else. 'Preoccupy' is stronger — it means to fully absorb the mind, leaving little room for other thoughts ('She was preoccupied with worry about her exam results'). As a rough guide: distract = temporary interruption; divert = intentional redirection; occupy = filling time; preoccupy = deep mental absorption.

distract ↗divert ↗occupy ↗preoccupy

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • distract from the task
  • distract with small talk
  • easily distracted by noise

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinMiddle EnglishEnglish

Distract entered English in the 14th century from Latin 'distractus', the past participle of 'distrahere', meaning 'to pull apart'. The Latin word combines 'dis-' (apart) and 'trahere' (to draw or pull). In Middle English it referred to pulling in different directions, both physically and mentally. By the 16th century it had taken on the sense of mental confusion or madness (now the dated adjective sense), while the modern verb meaning 'to divert attention' became dominant from the 18th century onward.