What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Attention vs Distract - What's the difference?

attention | distract |

As a noun attention

is (label) mental focus.

As a interjection attention

is .

As a verb distract is

to divert the attention of.

As a adjective distract is

(obsolete) separated; drawn asunder.

attention

Noun

(en-noun)
  • (label) Mental focus.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned. But he had then none of the oddities and mannerisms which I hold to be inseparable from genius, and which struck my attention in after days when I came in contact with the Celebrity.}}
  • * , chapter=3
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.”  He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis […] interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03, author=William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter, volume=100, issue=2, page=87, magazine=(American Scientist)
  • , title= The British Longitude Act Reconsidered , passage=But was it responsible governance to pass the Longitude Act without other efforts to protect British seamen? Or might it have been subterfuge—a disingenuous attempt to shift attention away from the realities of their life at sea.}}
  • (label) An action or remark expressing concern for or interest in someone or something, especially romantic interest.
  • * 1818 , (Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley), (Frankenstein); or, the Modern Prometheus , ch. 3,
  • She attended her sickbed; her watchful attentions triumphed over the malignity of the distemper.
  • * 1910 , (Stephen Leacock), " ,
  • For some time past I have been the recipient of very marked attentions from a young lady.
  • A state of alertness in the standing position.
  • Derived terms

    () * at attention * attention deficit disorder * attention-grabbing * attention line * attention span * attention whore * attentional * centre of attention/center of attention * draw attention * flow of attention * pay attention * stand to attention

    Interjection

    (en interjection)
  • .
  • Statistics

    *

    distract

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To divert the attention of.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=December 10, author=David Ornstein, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Arsenal 1-0 Everton , passage=While Gunners boss Arsene Wenger had warned his players against letting the pre-match festivities distract them from the task at hand, they clearly struggled for fluency early on.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Travels and travails , passage=Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.}}
    '

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (obsolete) Separated; drawn asunder.
  • (obsolete) Insane; mad.
  • (Drayton)