If something distracts you or your attention from something, it takes your attention away from it. Tom admits that playing video games sometimes distracts him from his homework Don't let yourself be distracted by fashionable theories A disturbance in the street distracted my attention. to take someone's attention away from something by making them look at or listen to something else (distractus, past participle of distrahere )
To agitate by conflicting passions, or by a variety of motives or of cares; to confound; to harass
draw someone's attention away from something; "The thief distracted the bystanders"; "He deflected his competitors
draw someone's attention away from something; "The thief distracted the bystanders"; "He deflected his competitors"