off the track

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Idioms and Phrases

Away from one's objective, train of thought, or a sequence of events, It is often put as get or put or throw off the track , as in Your question has gotten me off the track , or The interruption threw Mom off the track and she forgot what she'd already put into the stew . This term comes from railroading, where it means “derailed.” Its figurative use was first recorded in 1875.

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Example Sentences

He left the village the next day at noon by the toy train, "the little get off-the-track," as we call it.

From Project Gutenberg

Word of the Day

April 18, 2024petrichor

[pet-ri-kawr]

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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