Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To draw or take away; divert: They could detract little from so solid an argument.
- v. Archaic To speak ill of; belittle.
- v. To reduce the value, importance, or quality of something. Often used with from: testimony that only detracts from the strength of the plaintiff's case.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To take away; withdraw; abate: now always with a quantitative term as direct object, followed by from: as, the defect detracts little from the intrinsic value.
- To depreciate the reputation or merit of; disparage; belittle; defame.
- Synonyms Decry, Depreciate, Detract from, etc. See decry.
- To take away a part; hence, specifically, to take away reputation or merit: followed by from.
Wiktionary
- v. transitive To take away; to withdraw or remove.
- v. transitive To take credit or reputation from; to defame or decry.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To take away; to withdraw.
- v. To take credit or reputation from; to defame.
- v. To take away a part or something, especially from one's credit; to lessen reputation; to derogate; to defame; -- often with
from .
WordNet 3.0
- v. take away a part from; diminish.
Etymologies
- Middle English detracten, from Latin dētrahere, dētract-, to remove : dē-, de- + trahere, to pull. Sense 2, from Latin dētractāre, frequentative of dētrahere, to take away. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Let's not detract from the issue at hand, a birth certificate has yet to be produced.”
“Although that will detract from the street cred of that bearded homeless person look he cultivates.”
“It is because of their commitment and refusal to detract from the cause that the interim government has been forced to gag the media.”
Global Voices in English » Fiji: Bloggers debate media censorship
“Media presence can detract from the performance and the children's experience due to lights and crowded conditions.”
“In the same way that a true movie fan won't go to Dark Knight or Iron Man in the first week because the theater will be crowded and he or she runs the risk of having rude people make noise during the broadcast which would detract from the experience?”
“DIALOGUE: Dialogue can enhance or detract from the story in a major way.”
“(Not to detract from the poster -- very cool, and I wish I had the spare computers to do it, I'm just disinclined to purchase one specifically for use in the kitchen .. at least, not in this shithole apartment) mgpcoe”
“I hope, though, that this point doesn't detract from the overall argument of my post.”
I want you to stop stalking "overweight" women. - Feministing
“The mere fact they've already beaten the Cardinals this season by 28 and 39 points should not detract from the appeal.”
“Another Zen point — that adverse conditions do not detract from the fact of you.”
Shambhala SunSpace » John Tarrant – Escape Arts in Delusionville
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘detract’.
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2nd part
prelude, ample, escalate, prototype, accession, acquisition, archives, zealot, indict, verdict, intimidating, timid and 454 more...
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common UA vocab. in US
Interesting, there is a traditional vocabulary of an Ukrainian, that differs from vocabulary of average American. It would be nice to explore it.
jackdaw, incongruous, cassock, vivid, magpie, humdrum, amongst, wonder, wandering, wheedling, wheedle, osseous and 368 more...
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attractive distraction
tract on tract
beguilement, main side show, on tract, appetence, tract, abstract, extract, detract, contract, intractable, protract, subtract and 22 more...
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de-
away from; off; down; entirely; undo; reverse
detrain, decline, defunct, defrost, debility, detract, deduce, deduct, delineate, defuse, debunk, debase and 7 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
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Kavitha's Words
avarice, mellow, mahogany, serendipity, plush, vengeance, catalyst, plausible, penury, meticulous, sarcastic, ninja and 100 more...
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What Is the Sound of One Hand Typing?
Words you can type with one hand--if you learned how to type formally. Hunt-and-peck method doesn't count. ;-) I'm keeping it to five or more letters to avoid an excessively lengthy list.
<...racecar, start, create, desert, dessert, secret, secrete, sweet, tresses, poppy, puppy, homonym and 141 more...
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verbs
deprecate, behold, bemoan, circumscribe, circumspect, pivot, discombobulate, rummage, chasten, chastise, undulate, snog and 122 more...
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fbharjo's Words
jumelle, kef, kenspeckle, lautitious, essentic, pilpulistic, impavid, cicurant, clou, chrysostomic, miasma, teleology and 1625 more...
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frequent toefl
Words that I do not know or unsure for toefl
appurtenances, aptitude, arbitrary, arboretum, argot, arrears, avocation, avuncular, badger, bait, warden, bane and 428 more...
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Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009)
Words from 2009 'Ghosts of Girlfriends Past' film.
ravishing, juggle, rehearsal, in bulk, hoard, miser, detract, appendage, ordain, slick, scent, innuendo and 68 more...
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GRE Words
whimsical, loquacious, garrulous, curmudgeon, polemical, contempt, scorn, parsimony, torment, colossus, panegyrist, panegyric and 58 more...
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difficult-list14
descry, despondent, desiccate, desuetude, desultory, deterrent, detract, devolve, diadem, diatribe, diffidence, diffuse and 20 more...
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Remove
Relatives of remove
abstract, extract, evulse, avulse, extricate, purge, subduct, divest, devest, obliterate, discard, abscise and 28 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for detract.
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