Noun

(en noun)

The act of deflecting or something deflected.

* 1918 , H. G. Wells, Joan and Peter

The next morning Oswald stopped short in the middle of his shaving, which in his case involved the most tortuous deflections and grimacings.

The deviation of a needle or other indicator from its previous position.

Noun

(en noun)

Something that distracts.

*{{quote-book, year=1913, author=

, title=Lord Stranleigh Abroad , chapter=4 citation , passage=“… This is a surprise attack, and I’d no wish that the garrison, forewarned, should escape. I am sure, Lord Stranleigh, that he has been descanting on the distraction of the woods and the camp, or perhaps the metropolitan dissipation of Philadelphia, …”}}

The process of being distracted.

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author=(Oliver Burkeman)

, volume=189, issue=2, page=27, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= The tao of tech , passage=The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about "creating compelling content", or offering services that let you "stay up to date with what your friends are doing",

Perturbation; disorder; disturbance; confusion.

* 1662 Thomas Salusbury, Galileo's dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (Dialogue 2):

It's true that the Copernican Systeme introduceth distraction in the universe of Aristotle.

Mental disorder; a deranged state of mind; insanity.

* Richard Baxter

if he speak the words of an oath in a strange language, thinking they signify something else, or if he spake in his sleep, or deliration, or distraction , it is no oath, and so not obligatory.