1
as in diverts
to draw the attention or mind to something else
we were distracted from our discussion by the noise outside
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in disturbs
to trouble the mind of; to make uneasy
distracted by the looming tax deadline
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of distracts
Scrolling social media, watching videos, recording videos or using the device in anyway that distracts you and requires your body to do it.
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Shelby Slade, AZCentral.com, 6 Jan. 2026
As technology distracts, polarizes and automates, people are still finding refuge on analog islands in the digital sea.
—Michael Liedtke, Fortune, 28 Dec. 2025
The presence of the child distracts from adult conflicts.
—E. Tammy Kim, New Yorker, 17 Dec. 2025
For every dollar saved through consolidation, more is being spent on the endlessly growing compliance red-tape that buries doctors in paperwork and distracts them from patient care.
—Kim-Lien Nguyen, Boston Herald, 29 Nov. 2025
Lights flicker, and mother and daughter hide in the bath tub until Ted (Joe Chrest) realizes something is happening in the house and distracts the creature for a bit.
—Dessi Gomez, Deadline, 26 Nov. 2025
This false rumor distracts from pressing, urgent issues in children’s health.
—Deputy News Editor, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Nov. 2025
Doctors say the change on the federal health agency's site distracts from pressing public health issues and undermines efforts to increase vaccination rates ahead of the peak flu, RSV and COVID-19 season, which typically begins in November and runs through the end of February.
—Karissa Waddick, USA Today, 21 Nov. 2025
Aggrieved by their layoff, the ex-team member distracts and splits the fighting power of the team until they’re eventually subdued by a Robert/Blazer team-up.
—Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 13 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for distracts
Verb
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These tissues regenerate constantly, so when protein is scarce, your body diverts amino acids away from these aesthetic functions toward more critical ones, like maintaining organ health and immunity.—
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O’Neill directs the steamroller of tragedy right at the characters and then — atypically, delightfully — diverts it.—
Verb
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Another possibility is that there is a relic magnetic field that exists between galaxies which remains from the early universe and disturbs low-energy gamma-rays.—
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The water is perfectly clear — until someone brushes the side of the cave or disturbs the soft bottom, sending fine silt particles billowing into the beam of a headlamp.—
Verb
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Feeney’s book features multiple narrators, but relativity is not an idea the series bothers to develop.—
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Now, wages have grown, but inflation bothers people.—
Verb
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Which is another thing that worries him.—
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Stewart worries that the listings risk running afoul of copyright on product photos, or of agreements with her own suppliers — themselves mostly independent brands — that prohibit reselling products on Amazon.—
Verb
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What angers me is thinking about what could have been.—
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And nothing angers the Survivor gods more than reality TV hubris.—
Verb
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Friday’s arrival, relatively late in the book, unsettles unexpected elements of Crusoe’s order, while altering and rebuilding others.—
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As a series of perverse scam calls unsettles an idyllic retirement community, a starry-eyed nurse becomes entangled with her mysterious patient.—
Verb
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The parties believe the case, which concerns CEQA requirements at the community plan level, creates more legal ambiguity for municipalities and poses a statewide threat to housing development.—
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My question concerns the e-card version of this.—
Verb
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But what alarms him most is the silence from the business community.—
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While Cherry is more versed at keeping her rage simmering just below the surface, Laura struggles to hide her anguish and disgust, which alarms those closest to her.—
Cite this Entry
“Distracts.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/distracts. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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