distracted








adjective

  1. having the attention diverted: She tossed several rocks to the far left and slipped past the distracted sentry.
  2. rendered incapable of behaving, reacting, etc., in a normal manner, as by worry, remorse, or the like; irrational; disturbed.

verb (used with object)

  1. to draw away or divert, as the mind or attention: The music distracted him from his work.
  2. to disturb or trouble greatly in mind; beset: Grief distracted him.
  3. to provide a pleasant diversion for; amuse; entertain: I’m bored with bridge, but golf still distracts me.
  4. to separate or divide by dissension or strife.

adjective

  1. Obsolete. distracted.

adjective

  1. bewildered; confused
  2. mad

verb (tr)

  1. (often passive) to draw the attention of (a person) away from something
  2. to divide or confuse the attention of (a person)
  3. to amuse or entertain
  4. to trouble greatly
  5. to make mad
v.

mid-14c., “to draw asunder or apart, to turn aside” (literal and figurative), from Latin distractus, past participle of distrahere “draw in different directions,” from dis- “away” (see dis-) + trahere “to draw” (see tract (n.1)).

Sense of “to throw into a state of mind in which one knows not how to act” is from 1580s. Related: Distracted; distracting; distractedly; distractedness.

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