Detract

Quick meaning: Detract is a verb meaning (intransitive) To take away; to withdraw or remove.

Meaning

(intransitive) To take away; to withdraw or remove.

More Meanings

1. (transitive) To take credit or reputation from; to derogate; to defame or decry.

Example Sentences

That calumnious critic […] / Detracting what laboriously we do.

The improvement here patented consists in so arranging the parts of an ever pointed pencil case, that the point which holds the pencil shall be obtruded and detracted without having a slot in the side, which a ferrule and pin to draw it down, as is ordinarily done.

The Conan O’Brien-penned half-hour has the capacity to rip our collective hearts out the way the cute, funny bad girl next door does to Bart when she reveals that her new boyfriend is Jimbo Jones, but the show keeps shying away from genuine emotion in favor of jokes that, while overwhelmingly funny, detract from the poignancy and the emotional intimacy of the episode.

Word Forms

• detracts
• detracting
• detracted

Synonyms for detract

Depending on context, synonyms include badmouth, defame, decry, derogate, assassinate, asperse.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include take away, violate, derogate, infringe, downplay, distract.

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