(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.
Preoccupy
Definition:
(v. t.) To take possession of before another; as, to preoccupy a country not before held.
(v. t.) To prepossess; to engage, occupy, or engross the attention of, beforehand; hence, to prejudice.
Example Sentences:
(1) This makes The Red Pill a continuous, multi-voiced, up-to-the-minute male complaint nestled at the heart of the so-called manosphere – a network of websites preoccupied with both the men’s rights movement and how to pick up women.
(2) A bereavement during pregnancy is difficult to mourn: a pregnant woman is so increasingly preoccupied with the new life that mourning is interrupted and often impossible to resume later.
(3) Alcohol abusers describe themselves as less warm, kind, gentle, and emotionally expressive than their classmates, and were more preoccupied with themes of power in spontaneous fantasy productions.
(4) Some journalists have read it as yet another sign that Merkel has lost interest in domestic politics and is preoccupied with challenges on the global stage.
(5) Our research has found that leaders are preoccupied with change within their own departments and they struggle to work effectively across boundaries even when there are clearly shared interests.
(6) Despite more pronounced somatic complaints, women view their psychological situation more positively than men; they are more optimistic, less anxious, less depressed, and less preoccupied with their illness and its consequences.
(7) While Syria , migration and Russia are preoccupying western governments, Israel and Palestine have been largely left to their own devices.
(8) While a US presidential visit would normally be expected to command the lion's share of attention in South Korea, the country remains preoccupied with the misery wrought by the sinking of the passenger ferry.
(9) It is more important to understand this now than ever before, because never before have we been so preoccupied with social and economic issues: a preoccupation that is threatening to divert our attention from the main determinants of our specialty's future viability--the acquisition and application of new knowledge.
(10) The effects of regular aerobic exercise are important to an aging society increasingly preoccupied with exercise.
(11) Normally a very friendly fellow, the reasons for 'Arry's lack of chivalry remain unknown, but it's thought he may have been preoccupied by the prospect of bringing triffic fellas Emmanuel Adebayor and Benoît Essou-Akotto to Loftus Road on loan.
(12) Republicans accused the administration of putting out the update at a time when Washington was preoccupied with the pope’s visit.
(13) Dying and death have scarcely before our time preoccupied so many.
(14) Part of Putin's brain is transplanted into Berlusconi's head, turning him into a confused, Russian-speaking, vodka-drinking man, preoccupied with men stuck in a submarine.
(15) Nineteen of the 100 veterans had made a postservice suicide attempt, and 15 more had been preoccupied with suicide since the war.
(16) On the basis of interviews and printed primary sources, the paper argues that Treasury officials made a less than rigorous assessment of the impact of cafeteria plans because they were preoccupied with a larger agenda of making tax-free benefits more equitable.
(17) He says that while he and I would never dream of failing to acknowledge our own children, he believes Turner was too preoccupied to think about them.
(18) Women had less to say and seemed less familiar with the discourse on bonding, and were less preoccupied with the establishment of close mother-infant relationship.
(19) But I’ll have a chicken curry afterwards.” However, Richard seemed more preoccupied with deciding what to call Morrissey.
(20) In their attempts to explain observed patterns in population dynamics and community structure, ecologists have, until recently, been preoccupied with the effects of predation and competition.