What's the difference between distract and divert?

Distract


Definition:

  • (a.) Separated; drawn asunder.
  • (a.) Insane; mad.
  • (v. t.) To draw apart or away; to divide; to disjoin.
  • (v. t.) To draw (the sight, mind, or attention) in different directions; to perplex; to confuse; as, to distract the eye; to distract the attention.
  • (v. t.) To agitate by conflicting passions, or by a variety of motives or of cares; to confound; to harass.
  • (v. t.) To unsettle the reason of; to render insane; to craze; to madden; -- most frequently used in the participle, distracted.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) At consolidation, the distraction area was composed of lamellar trabecular and partly woven bone.
  • (2) "Maybe dullness is associated with psychic pain," Wallace wrote at one point, "because something that's dull or opaque fails to provide enough stimulation to distract people from some other, deeper type of pain that is always there, if only in an ambient low-level way, and which most of us spend nearly all our time and energy trying to distract ourselves from."
  • (3) The animals in group 1 (n = 6), group 2 (n = 3), and group 3 (n = 5) were killed at 4, 16, and 32 weeks, respectively, from the end of the distraction period.
  • (4) Strict fundamentalists oppose music in any form as a sensual distraction - the Taliban, of course, banned music in Afghanistan.
  • (5) Why would you want to boost him?” The president is accused of trying to distract from domestic problems – corruption scandals and an exposé showing he plagiarised parts of his law-school thesis – by attending to Trump.
  • (6) Miles Shipside, Rightmove director, said: "The number of new sellers is slightly up on the same period last year, though perhaps as a reflection of their urgency to sell, or to compensate for the distraction of the achievements served up by Team GB, they have dropped their asking prices more aggressively than summer sellers in previous years."
  • (7) Bone formation in the distraction zone was quantified by means of computed tomography.
  • (8) Furthermore, a time must come when in the wider interests of society it is necessary to stop relitigating the past, distracting attention and resources from the problems of the here and now.
  • (9) Distraction lengthening has gained wide acceptance in general orthopedics and in upper extremity reconstructions.
  • (10) The wire functioned as a spindle along which the distraction of the osteotomized bone fragments was continued.
  • (11) The noise distraction influenced performance of all groups similarly.
  • (12) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Bannon scorns media in rare public appearance at CPAC Some observers suggested the move to block some organisations from the Friday briefing was an attempt to distract the public from controversial stories.
  • (13) But like so many of his colleagues in the Trump administration , Spicer has shown us how unconsciousness and stupidity can, however paradoxically, assume a Machiavellian function – how a flagrant example of gross insensitivity and flat-out odiousness can serve as yet another useful and convenient distraction.
  • (14) The results show that epiphyseal distraction is a valid method of limb lengthening, but it appears to have a consistently harmful effect on the growth plate and should be used clinically only in patients close to maturity.
  • (15) Myths such as those that we have described may distract our patients from the underlying behaviors that contribute to the disease or may deflect the blame perceived by obese patients and their parents.
  • (16) He is a bit different and speaks his mind but the most important thing is that he doesn’t get distracted from what’s happening on the court.
  • (17) Specific goals of the two-year study were to develop and test a method for assessing chart skills and to test the following hypotheses: (a) knowledge base is a component of chart review skill; (b) chart skills are related to basic observational skills; (c) performance on one chart is positively correlated with performance on other charts; (d) chart performance is affected by distraction and time pressure; and (e) chart performance improves with clinical experience.
  • (18) "It is clear this is a government which is short of ideas, desperately trying to bring up nonsensical diversions to distract attention from the situation in the country.
  • (19) Both groups showed substantial decrements in digit recall following distraction by letter matching.
  • (20) The arts and social space in Deptford opened in 2015 after three years of fundraising and it now runs a programme of gigs, screenings, talks and performances, as well as being home to Tome Records, which has a distractingly good selection of vinyl, as well as tapes and zines.

Divert


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To turn aside; to turn off from any course or intended application; to deflect; as, to divert a river from its channel; to divert commerce from its usual course.
  • (v. t.) To turn away from any occupation, business, or study; to cause to have lively and agreeable sensations; to amuse; to entertain; as, children are diverted with sports; men are diverted with works of wit and humor.
  • (v. i.) To turn aside; to digress.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) First, it has diverted grain away from food for fuel, with over a third of US corn now used to produce ethanol and about half of vegetable oils in the EU going towards the production of biodiesel.
  • (2) Four patients had previously been diverted and the other six were reconstructed because of intractable incontinence or deteriorating renal function.
  • (3) These results suggest that energy obtained from succinate oxidation can be diverted from phosphorylation to support steroidogenesis.
  • (4) There is no evidence to support the move to seven-day services, there is no evidence of what is going to happen if we divert our resources away from the week to weekends.
  • (5) The Saudi-led war in Yemen launched in March – against Houthi rebels who the Saudis insist are backed by Iran – has diverted resources and underlined the priority being given to the Gulf’s unstable and impoverished backyard.
  • (6) As the historian of neoliberalism Philip Mirowski argues , what the past 30 years have been about is using the powers of the state to divert more resources to the wealthy.
  • (7) All the money is to be diverted from existing aid money.
  • (8) As arousal level increases, so does selectivity, and attention is diverted away from irrelevant task components.
  • (9) These results suggest that diallyl sulfide acts by conjugating the toxic metabolites of cyclophosphamide, thereby limiting their systemic circulation and diverting their route of excretion from the urine.
  • (10) Arguably the national interest would have been better served if some of that dividend cash had been diverted to research that would produce new technologies, and new jobs, 10 years from now.
  • (11) But Clarke said he would not be diverted by “kneejerk short-term decisions” and “gimmicks”.
  • (12) Apple has used the month of January to launch revolutionary products before, in part as a way of diverting attention from its rivals presenting their latest inventions at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which Apple does not attend, and that takes place the same month.
  • (13) These diverted contributions mean you will receive a smaller state pension.
  • (14) He learned many of the other crucial skills that were either lacking, or absent: the ability to point, and imitate; the habit of commenting on his surroundings; how to divert his energy away from tantrums into productive activity.
  • (15) While Goma did not experience the worst of the fighting, the M23 movement diverted government funds away from the provision of basic services and shattered hopes of a lasting peace.
  • (16) It was demonstrated that an increasing fraction of flow was diverted to the mucosa-submucosa with enhanced total intestinal blood flow.
  • (17) The government has indicated that funding for the replacement service will come from money diverted from the BBC licence fee, a controversial move strongly resisted by the corporation.
  • (18) One columnist for the state agency RIA Novosti said the whole scandal was a “tried and tested American method of brain control” to divert attention from allegations of NSA spying.
  • (19) He took a few touches and then tried to batter a shot past Mignolet at his near post but the Belgian stayed strong and managed to divert it over the bar!
  • (20) Treatment consisted of celiotomy (52), diverting colostomy (51), presacral drains (35), rectal stump irrigation (26), and primary closure (1).