detract

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French détracter, from Latin detractum, past participle of detraho.

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /dɪˈtɹækt/
Rhymes: -ækt
- Audio (Southern England): (file)

Verb

detract (third-person singular simple present detracts, present participle detracting, simple past and past participle detracted)

(intransitive) To take away; to withdraw or remove.
- 1846, editorial staff, “CHEMISTRY”, in Scientific American, series 1, Volume 2, Issue 13, page 102:
  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.
- 2012 May 27, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “New Kid On The Block” (season 4, episode 8; originally aired 11/12/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club‎^[1]:
  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.
(transitive) To take credit or reputation from; to derogate; to defame or decry.
Synonyms: badmouth, defame, decry, derogate; see also Thesaurus:defame
- 1604, Michael Drayton, Moses in a Map of his Miracles:
  That calumnious critic […] / Detracting what laboriously we do.

Derived terms

Translations

to take away; to withdraw or remove

Bulgarian: отнемам (bg) (otnemam)
Finnish: poistaa (fi), vähentää (fi)
Russian: отнима́ть (ru) (otnimátʹ), вычита́ть (ru) (vyčitátʹ), уменьша́ть (ru) (umenʹšátʹ)

to take credit or reputation from; to defame or decry

Bulgarian: злословя (bg) (zloslovja)
Finnish: vähätellä (fi), häpäistä (fi), häväistä (fi), mustamaalata (fi)
Russian: умалять (ru) (umaljatʹ), принижать (ru) (prinižatʹ), приуменьшать (ru) (priumenʹšatʹ)
Spanish: desvirtuar (es)

Anagrams

tracted