Noun

(uncountable) Doubt; the condition of being uncertain or without conviction.

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=“Well,” I answered, at first with uncertainty , then with inspiration, “he would do splendidly to lead your cotillon, if you think of having one.” ¶ “So you do not dance, Mr. Crocker?” ¶ I was somewhat set back by her perspicuity.}}

* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=April 9, author=Mandeep Sanghera, work=BBC Sport

, title= Tottenham 1-2 Norwich , passage=After spending so much of the season looking upwards, the swashbuckling style and swagger of early season Spurs was replaced by uncertainty and frustration against a Norwich side who had the quality and verve to take advantage}}

(countable) Something uncertain or ambiguous.

(uncountable, mathematics) A parameter that measures the dispersion of a range of measured values.

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.