de-tract

verb (used without object)

to take away a part, as from quality, value, or reputation (usually followed by from ).

verb (used with object)

to draw away or divert; distract: to detract another's attention from more important issues.

Archaic. to take away (a part); abate: The dilapidated barn detracts charm from the landscape.

Origin:
1400–50; late Middle English (< Middle French detracter) < Latin dētractus drawn away (past participle of dētrahere), equivalent to dē- de- + tractus drawn; see tract¹

Related forms

de·tract·ing·ly, adverb

de·trac·tor, noun

un·de·tract·ing, adjective

un·de·tract·ing·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To de-tract

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De-tract is always a great word to know.

So is slumgullion. Does it mean:

a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.

a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

detract (dɪˈtrækt)

—vb (when intr, usually foll by from)
1.	to take away a part (of); diminish: her anger detracts from her beauty
2.	(tr) to distract or divert
3.	obsolete (tr) to belittle or disparage

[C15: from Latin dētractus drawn away, from dētrahere to pull away, disparage, from de- + trahere to drag]

usage Detract is sometimes wrongly used where distract is meant: a noise distracted (not detracted) my attention

de'tractingly

—*adv*

de'tractive

—*adj*

de'tractory

—*adj*

de'tractively

—*adv*

de'tractor

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

detract

c.1500, from L. detractus, pp. of detrahere "to draw off" (see detraction).

Matching Quote

"In France, and at the most important period of our history, Catherine de' Medici has suffered more from popular error than any other woman, unless it be Brunehaut or Frédégonde; while Marie de' Medici, whose every action was prejudicial to France, has escaped the disgrace that should cover her name.... Catherine de' Medici ... saved the throne of France, she maintained [the] Royal authority under circumstances to which more than one great prince would have succumbed. Face to face with such leaders of the factions and ambitions of the houses of Guise and of Bourbon as the two Cardinals de Lorraine and the two "Balafrès," the two Princes de Condé, Queen Jeanne d'Albret, Henri IV, the Connétable de Montmorency, Calvin, the Colignys and Théodore de Bèze, she was forced to put forth the rarest fine qualities, the most essential gifts of statesmanship, under the fire of the Calvinist press."

-Honoré De Balzac

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