Adjacent Words

Detract definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DETRACT, v.t. [L., to draw. See Draw and Drag.]
1. Literally, to draw from. Hence, to take away from reputation or merit, through envy, malice or other motive; hence, to detract from, is to lessen or depreciate reputation or worth; to derogate from.
Never circulate reports that detract from the reputation or honor of your neighbor, without obvious necessity to justify the act.
2. To take away; to withdraw, in a literal sense.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: take away a part from; diminish; "His bad manners detract from his good character" [syn: take away, detract]

Merriam Webster's

verb Etymology: Middle English, from Latin detractus, past participle of detrahere to pull down, disparage, from de- + trahere to draw Date: 15th century transitive verb 1. archaic to speak ill of 2. archaic to take away 3. divert <detract attention> intransitive verb to diminish the importance, value, or effectiveness of something — often used with from <small errors that do not seriously detract from the book> • detractor noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. (usu. foll. by from) take away (a part of something); reduce, diminish (self-interest detracted nothing from their achievement). Derivatives: detraction n. detractive adj. detractor n. Etymology: L detrahere detract- (as DE-, trahere draw)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Detract De*tract", v. i. To take away a part or something, especially from one's credit; to lessen reputation; to derogate; to defame; -- often with from. It has been the fashion to detract both from the moral and literary character of Cicero. --V. Knox.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Detract De*tract", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Detracted; p. pr. & vb. n. Detracting.] [L. detractus, p. p. of detrahere to detract; de + trahere to draw: cf. F. d['e]tracter. See Trace.] 1. To take away; to withdraw. Detract much from the view of the without. --Sir H. Wotton. 2. To take credit or reputation from; to defame. That calumnious critic . . . Detracting what laboriously we do. --Drayton. Syn: To derogate; decry; disparage; depreciate; asperse; vilify; defame; traduce. See Decry.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(detracts, detracting, detracted) If one thing detracts from another, it makes it seem less good or impressive. The publicity could detract from our election campaign. VERB: V from n, also V n from n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. Depreciate, disparage, etc. See under 1, in next entry.

Moby Thesaurus

abate, abrade, abstract, bate, beguile, call away, curtail, decrease, deduct, depreciate, derogate, detract attention, detract from, diminish, disparage, distract, divert, divert the mind, drain, eat away, erode, extract, file away, impair, leach, lessen, purify, reduce, refine, remove, retrench, rub away, shorten, subduct, subtract, take away, take away from, take from, thin, thin out, wear away, weed, withdraw