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🎯 A false attack 🎲 An amusement ↩️ A detour
diversion

diversion

80 7.2
An attack that draws the enemy's attention away from the main force
  • noun
  • /dɪˈvɜrʒən/
  • Specialized
: maniobra de distracción
  • The soldiers executed a clever diversion to draw enemy fire away from the main assault.

Let's say all of these diversion tactics fail.

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Examples

  • Let's say all of these diversion tactics fail.

    WIRED

  • On the Western Front, the British launched the Battle of Aras, A diversion to support a major upcoming French offensive.

  • Drop some bombs, create a diversion, go in and get him.

    Land of Bad (2024)

  • Major Heyward will provide a diversion.

    The Last of the Mohicans (1992)

  • A diversion to protect the criminals' getaway.

    Beverly Hills Cop II (1987)

  • Slick would create a noisy diversion, which would force the soldiers to investigate.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • All we need to break out of here is a diversion, a shovel and a blowup dummy of ourselves.

    Escape from Planet Earth (2013)

  • Mr. Shaw, you and I will create a diversion at the front door that will attract the zombies and allow the rest to escape out the back.

    Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies (2012)

  • During the operation, the team caused a diversion to mislead the opposing troops.

  • The general ordered a strategic diversion to distract the enemy while reinforcements arrived.

Synonyms

misdirection
vsdiversion
15 7.2

An action that draws attention away from something important

is a military tactic that distracts enemy forces rather than simple attention
diversionary attack
vsdiversion
  • Specialized
1 7.8

An action by soldiers to draw the enemy's attention away from the main battle

is the planned military maneuver creating that distraction from the principal objective

Antonyms

focus
∞ 3.5

Close attention to one subject or activity

How Distracting

diversion
  • Specialized
80 7.2
ruse
60 7.7

Surface Forms

diversion singular
diversions plural

Morphology

diversion = divert (transparent) = divert + ion

The noun denotes the act or result of 'divert' (to draw attention or forces away), which directly fits the military meaning.

Etymology

Diversion comes from old Latin parts di- meaning 'apart' and vers- meaning 'turn', the same 'turn' you see in reverse. In war, a diversion is a 'turning away' of attention or forces, which is why it means a planned attack to distract the enemy from the main target.