English → Latin
“distract” in Latin
distrahōto draw, pull or drag asunder; tear in pieces, separate forcibly, divide; scatter; to sell separately (in parcels), retadistringōto stretch out or apart; to detain; to distractoccupātiōseizing, occupying (taking possession); occupation, employment; trouble, unrest
The English word distract itself goes back to Latin trahō, through distractus.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
distract
distrahere (draw in different directions; hence, IMPROP., of dissipating the thoughts and perplexing the mind by presenting different objects to them; e.g., alicujus industriam in plura studia; animum in contrarias sententias): aliquem distinere (to keep apart; hence, to prevent the mind from concentrating itself, as it were, on what it would like to do). (The words are found in this connection and order.) distinere et divellere: distringere (by turning the attention to more than one object at once): to be distracted by important business of various kinds, multis et magnis negotiis distentum esse: to send Hannibal to distract the attention of the Romans, Hannibalem mittere - ad distringendos Romanos (Liv. 35, 18): to be distracted by sorrow, distineri et divelli dolore (Cic.): occupations of a distracting nature, occupationes (as Plin., Ep., 6, 15, 1): to distract anybody’s thought from his grief, animum alicujus a curis or a sollicitudine abducere; aliquem oblectare (to try to produce feelings of a pleasant nature in order to counteract any unpleasant ones).
To make mad, in insaniam adigere aliquem.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for distract?
- The usual Latin words for “distract” are distrahō, distringō, occupātiō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.