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detract

[dih-trakt]

Example Sentences Origin

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.

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Detract is a GRE word you need to know.

So is declamation. Does it mean:

exercise in oratory or elocution, as in the recitation of a classic speech

to remove water from

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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. 2012.
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Link To detract

Example Sentences

In this lesson, students share opinions about the factors that contribute to or detract from their happiness.

That's fine, but the slides should enhance rather than detract from your presentation.

Yet none of this should detract from the moment's historic importance.

EXPAND

In this lesson, students share opinions about the factors that contribute to or detract from their happiness.

That's fine, but the slides should enhance rather than detract from your presentation.

Yet none of this should detract from the moment's historic importance.

Mud and other floating matter can detract from this method's effectiveness.

As usual you miscontrue my point because you would rather detract than face my argumant head on.

On types with interesting branch structure, remove any limbs that detract from effect.

But the book is not so light as to distract or detract from the pertinent medical information contained therein.

But sanding is important, and stinting on the effort will detract from even the finest job.

They add that the first does not detract from the second.

Berlusconi himself is a scandal, putting the blame on others will not detract from his own faults.

Not that this should detract from the impact of this milestone.

Those conceits do not detract from the basic consumer right to know what is on their plate.

Such handicaps necessarily detract from the rate of development, however.

Just make sure that you don't detract from some of the basic rules of composition and symmetry.

For example, some people worry that these goals detract from a focus on academic learning.

But this does not detract from his main point: oil has damaged the countries it comes from.

Avoid reflections and bright backgrounds which can detract from your subject.

But that does not detract from its odd charm, which often surprises first-time guests.

Obviously this does not, repeat not, detract from the well deserved praise for a well done job that does you prouid.

The incompatibility problem may confuse customers and could detract from the success of the new service.

But neither they nor their players will let outsiders detract from the record they have.

As for privatization matters, they have been a successful red herring to detract attention away from the issues raised supra.

The pixelated images caused by poor connections or cheap cameras do not detract from the online experience.

And no radio to detract from the wonderful sounds it makes.

Such mistakes always tend to detract from a publication's credibility.

Nothing should detract from your primary objective, which is driving the car safely and efficiently.

But let this not detract from serious discussions about what the future may bring.

Not to mention the three huge logos at the bottom that detract from the rest of the cover.

Errors in marketing do not detract from its appropriate design.

He's convinced the columns will detract from the building and make it harder to put in exhibition space.

But that doesn't detract from the coolness of designing and creating your own bodywork.

It won't win any awards, but it also won't detract from the story.

Well, these are ones that are fun to talk about, but that aren't so significant as to seriously detract from the movie's quality.

The ending is ambiguous but that doesn't detract at all from the story.

Watch your backgrounds: phone wires, fence posts, or white delivery vans detract from nature's beauty.

Tablets can use wireless versions of those too, but those detract from the streamlined experience they offer.

But those problems are readily solvable, and don't detract significantly from the app's core strength: listening by location.

Even though the inserts are efficient as heating units, they do detract from the charm of the fireplace.

Again, your personal details are not interesting at application and may detract from you being considered.

Yet none of this should detract from the drama, or the magnitude of the orange-clad protesters' achievement.

Insignificant details can detract from an overview of our picture of the facts.

If the ideas are sometimes incoherent, that does not detract from the substance and power of the book".

Yet such legitimate concerns should not be allowed to detract from the basic progress that has occurred:.

But this should not detract from our current focus on source sites–this is absolutely the right thing to do at this point.

And none of these errors detract from the central theory of.

These are faults, but they detract little from the book's overall power.

Does allowing such activities enhance the park experience or detract from.

Mack not to let his alien studies detract from his other work.

And then there are the elements that are intended to propel the storyline, but instead tend to detract from the action:.

Occasionally, they detract from the musicians below.

Wills said that this would not detract from the company's long-term growth potential.

Or maybe they'll actually detract from the experience.

The striking thing about these photographs is that their small size doesn't detract from their pith.

Her occasional vocal frays and frequent shortness of breath don't detract from the essence of what she does.

Peripheral lights and movement cause distraction and detract from the experience.

But these defects are too small and peripheral to seriously detract from the pleasure or value of this book.

The chicken-and-egg debate shouldn't detract from the fundamental fact that globalization and good policies go together.

There is nothing to detract from the color combinations of the figures.

They detract from the hip environment advertisers seek.

Likewise talking and eating and any other activity that might detract from the primary.

The absence of anything startling in his study does not detract either from its exceptional interest or its readability.

The study did not try to measure whether the digital devices actually did detract from time spent reading.

But these should not detract from his accomplishment.

The penultimate phase of the narrative is somewhat lurid, but it does not detract from the effectiveness of what has gone before.

COLLAPSE

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
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

detract

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

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Related Words

besmirch derogate diminish

diminish take

Matching Quote

"We cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract."

-Abraham Lincoln

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