Synonyms for distracting
verb divert attention; confuseAntonyms for distracting
diverting
embarrassing
- awkward
- bewildering
- compromising
- confusing
- delicate
- difficult
- disagreeable
- discomfiting
- discommoding
- discommodious
- disconcerting
- distracting
- distressing
- disturbing
- equivocal
- exasperating
- impossible
- incommodious
- inconvenient
- inopportune
- mortifying
- perplexing
- puzzling
- rattling
- sensitive
- shameful
- sticky
- ticklish
- touchy
- tricky
- troublesome
- troubling
- uncomfortable
- uneasy
- unpropitious
- unseemly
- upsetting
- worrisome
misleading
Word Origin & History
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.
Example Sentences fordistracting
Therefore did she smile at Captain Middleton in this distracting fashion.
But is it not distracting to the conscience of a man to be told that in the particular case they are opposed?
Charles Wilcox had not yet rung him up for the distracting interview.
At first Lydia did not half listen, knowing his purpose in distracting her.
The worst had happened; other and distracting interests were dead.
He must by some means or other attend to them in all their distracting individuality.
Many times this distracting thought drove me almost to madness.
How—how should these distracting circumstances be brought to an end?
He writes to distracting lengths; and, worst of all, his harmonies are hideous.
Such was the suspense, the distracting doubt which yet clung to me.