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Haunt vs Distract - What's the difference?

haunt | distract | Related terms |

Haunt is a related term of distract.


In lang=en terms the difference between haunt and distract

is that haunt is to persist in staying or visiting while distract is to divert the attention of.

As verbs the difference between haunt and distract

is that haunt is to inhabit, or visit frequently (most often used in reference to ghosts) while distract is to divert the attention of.

As a noun haunt

is a place at which one is regularly found; a hangout.

As an adjective distract is

(obsolete) separated; drawn asunder.

haunt

English

Alternative forms

* (l) (Scotland)

Verb

(en verb)
  • To inhabit, or visit frequently (most often used in reference to ghosts).
    • A couple of ghosts haunt the old, burnt-down house.
  • * Shakespeare
    • You wrong me, sir, thus still to haunt my house.
  • * Jonathan Swift
    • those cares that haunt the court and town
  • * Fairfax
    • Foul spirits haunt my resting place.
  • To make uneasy, restless.
    • The memory of his past failures haunted him.
  • To stalk, to follow
    • The policeman haunted him, following him everywhere.
  • To live habitually; to stay, to remain.
  • * 1526 , William Tyndale, trans. Bible , John XI:
    • Jesus therfore walked no more openly amonge the iewes: butt went his waye thence vnto a countre ny to a wildernes into a cite called effraym, and there haunted with his disciples.
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , III.x:
    • yonder in that wastefull wildernesse / Huge monsters haunt , and many dangers dwell
  • To accustom; habituate; make accustomed to.
  • * Wyclif
    • Haunt thyself to pity.
  • To practise; to devote oneself to.
  • * Ascham
    • Leave honest pleasure, and haunt no good pastime.
  • To persist in staying or visiting.
  • * Shakespeare
    • I've charged thee not to haunt about my doors.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A place at which one is regularly found; a hangout.
  • *
  • * 1868 , , "Kitty's Class Day":
    • Both Jack and Fletcher had graduated the year before, but still took an interest in their old haunts , and patronized the fellows who were not yet through.
  • * 1984 , Timothy Loughran and Natalie Angier, " Science: Striking It Rich in Wyoming," Time , 8 Oct.:
    • Wyoming has been a favorite haunt of paleontologists for the past century ever since westering pioneers reported that many vertebrate fossils were almost lying on the ground.
  • (dialect) A ghost.
  • * 1891 , Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country , Nebraska 2005, p. 93:
    • ‘Harnts don't wander much ginerally,’ he said. ‘They hand round thar own buryin'-groun' mainly.’
  • A feeding place for animals.Oxford English Dictionary , 2nd ed., 1989.

    • References

    Anagrams

    *

    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.}}
    '

    Related terms

    * distracted * distractible * distracting * distraction

    Adjective

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