distraction
44
2.8
- noun
- /dɪsˈtrækʃən/
:
distracción
- She turned on the television as a distraction from her troubling thoughts.
- find a distraction
- provide a distraction
Let's see, Megan says, should we date as a distraction from our heartbreak?
- Let's see, Megan says, should we date as a distraction from our heartbreak?
- We played for hours because look, distraction is nothing new.
- What happens is when we remove all distractions, we start to panic.
- This was they didn't, it was a good distraction from the chaos that was happening, right.
- One of those distractions they fear is celebrities.
- I could still use the distraction, so we're going to read it today.
- So it's a nice distraction, but it does feel a bit right now.
- But it gave me exactly, I think, the level of informal, casual distraction, but friendly distraction.
Examples
-
We shall have to do our very best to provide some distraction for you.
-
Nice little distraction that will no doubt make you smile or laugh.
-
Like I would consider exercise a form of distraction from our work.
-
I could still use the distraction, so we're going to read it today.
-
It's just a little distraction to buy some more time.
-
It's giving us a very, very short term distraction from the unpleasant experience of that.
-
The nation needed a musical distraction from the national emergency, and women gladly helped fill the musical void.
Academic text (2008) -
What was intended as a hobby to provide distraction from grief quickly became an obsession.
Fiction book (1993) -
I wanted to distract him from whatever was worrying him; I'm sure I needed distraction, too.
Fiction book (1996) -
It's a good distraction.
Synonyms
858
2.1
Things people do or watch for fun, like a film
100
1.8
An enjoyable activity or entertainment that holds your attention
61
3.9
An activity that gives people pleasure and takes their mind off worries
1
9.9
A short, light performance that entertains people during a larger show
An activity that pleases and helps you forget your worries
Antonyms
How Entertaining
Surface Forms
Morphology
distraction = distract (semi-transparent) = dis + tract + ion
The link to 'distract' is clear, but the specific sense of an enjoyable diversion from worries is a conventional semantic specialization.
Etymology
Distraction comes from the parts dis- 'apart' and tract 'to pull', the same root you see in tractor. A pleasant distraction is something that 'pulls' your mind away from worries and gives you a helpful break.