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.

Noun

A compulsive or irrational preoccupation.

An unhealthy fixation.

Influence or control by evil spirits without possession.

* 1973 , Jessie Penn-Lewis, Evan Roberts, War on the Saints , ISBN 0913926043.

if an evil spirit counterfeits the presence of God, and comes upon'' the man as an influence only, it may be described as obsession ; but when a footing is gained ''in him, it is "possession," because the obsessing spirits have gained access, and possess the ground they hold, up to the extent of the ground given.

* 1999 , Mary E. McDonough, God's Plan of Redemption , page 85, ISBN 0736307184.

They should see that a perception of their identification with the Victor of Calvary is absolutely necessary if they are to constantly and victoriously resist the obsession of evil spirits.

* 2007 , James E. Padgett, The Teachings of Jesus , page 100, ISBN 1430303913.

It is true, that by the workings of the law of attraction, and the susceptibility of mortals to the influence of spirit powers, mortals may become obsessed by the spirits of evil—that is evil spirits of men who once lived on earth—and this obsession may become so complete and powerful that the living mortal may lose all power to resist this influence of the evil spirits...