Deflect vs Derail - What's the difference?
deflect | derail |
To make (something) deviate from its original path.
To deviate from its original path.
(figuratively) To avoid addressing (questions, criticism, etc.).
(figuratively) To divert (attention, etc.).
* 2013 , Luke Harding and Uki Goni, Argentina urges UK to hand back Falklands and 'end colonialism'' (in ''The Guardian , 3 January 2013)[http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jan/02/argentina-britain-hand-back-falklands]
A device placed on railway tracks causing a train to derail.
To cause to come off the tracks.
To come off the tracks.
To deviate from the previous course or direction.
To cause to deviate from a set course or direction.
In transitive terms the difference between deflect and derail
is that deflect is to make (something) deviate from its original path while derail is to cause to deviate from a set course or direction.In intransitive terms the difference between deflect and derail
is that deflect is to deviate from its original path while derail is to deviate from the previous course or direction.As a noun derail is
a device placed on railway tracks causing a train to derail.deflect
English
Verb
(en verb)- The Prime Minister deflected some increasingly pointed questions by claiming he had an appointment.
- Critics suggest that Fernández, an unashamed populist and nationalist, is seeking to deflect attention from social disharmony at home.
derail
English
(wikipedia derail)Noun
(en noun)- The derail was placed deliberately so that the train would fall into the river.
Verb
(en verb)- The train was destroyed when it was derailed by the penny.
- The conversation derailed once James brought up politics.
- The protesting students derailed the professor's lecture.