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Glite Dictionary
to distract from

to distract from

82 3.3
To make someone stop paying attention to something by showing something else
  • phrasal verb
  • /dɪˈstrækt frʌm/
translation icon : distraer de
  • I am trying to get to the essence of Cyrano, and I do not want anything to distract from that.
  • distract attention from
  • distract from the task
  • distract from the purpose

Talking to someone just distracts you from your creative thoughts.

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Examples

  • His jokes can sometimes distract from the main topic of discussion.

  • I feel like we distract ourselves from a lot.

  • And he also felt that it really distracted from the clothes.

  • Like trying to distract from the real issue at hand.

  • Talking to someone just distracts you from your creative thoughts.

    YaleCourses

  • But you know, it distracts you from what's important.

    Megyn Kelly

  • The sight of Phillip getting out of his car obviously distracted the dog from the game.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Basic animation adds to the experience without distracting from the story.

    Academic text (2015)

  • We're filling our lives in a way that is distracting us from what is actually meaningful.

    The Minimalists

  • Nothing can distract me from my dedication to the pursuit of truth.

    Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)

Synonyms

to distract
vsto distract from
513 2.1

To make someone stop paying attention to what they are doing or thinking about

causes attention to stop on one thing and move toward another
to deflect
vsto distract from
76 4.6

To turn attention away from a person or thing

focuses specifically on making a person stop paying attention by drawing it away
to shift focus
vsto distract from
14 3.8

Change what you pay attention to

is about causing attention to stop by drawing it elsewhere rather than self choice
to deflect attention
vsto distract from
6 5.2

To make people look at something else to avoid criticism

causes attention to shift without implying an avoidance motive
to defocus
vsto distract from
6.7

To move attention away from something so people think about it less

draws attention away toward another thing instead of merely reducing it
to misfocus
vsto distract from
8.0

To give attention to the wrong person or problem

causes attention to leave one thing by shifting it elsewhere, not necessarily wrongly

Antonyms

to pay attention
∞ 1.6

To focus on someone or something and notice carefully

to concentrate on
279 3.1

Give your full attention to one activity or subject

How Distracting

to preoccupy
70 6.3
to distract from
82 3.3
to sidetrack
30 4.6

Surface Forms

distract from infinitive
distracted from past
distracted from past participle
distracting from present participle
distracts from third person singular

Morphology

distract + from

The meaning of 'distract from' is directly compositional: 'distract' (to cause loss of focus) combined with the preposition 'from' (indicating the source or thing being abandoned) yields the sense of drawing attention away from something. This source-marking pattern is common cross-linguistically and would be immediately understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.

Etymology

Distract from is like a magician who points to one hand while the other hand hides a coin. The gesture makes people look at the wrong hand: distract pulls 'attention' and from shows where it moves away, so to distract from something means to draw attention away and stop people noticing the original thing.