divert
verbattested in dialogue
- United Kingdom//daɪˈvɜːt//
- United States//daɪˈvɝt//
- United States//dɪˈvɝt//
To turn aside from a course.
verb
- 1
To turn aside from a course.
The workers diverted the stream away from the road.
Many of the remaining trains have been retimed and where possible freight trains have also been diverted to alternative routes.
Until the main road from Hatfield to Hertford was diverted a few years ago, heavy lorries trundling through the village sometimes knocked chunks off corner buildings, but now the village has regained much of its former tranquillity.
- 2
To distract.
Don't let him divert your attention; keep your eye on the ball.
that crude apple that diverted Eve
- 3
To entertain or amuse (by diverting the attention)
We are amused by a tale, diverted by a comedy.
But somehow, despite wooden, unfunny dialogue, rigid characterization, and the dreadful mindless meaninglessness of it all, Good News manages to divert us for its three hours.
- 4
obsoleteTo turn aside; to digress.
I diverted to see one of the prince's palaces.
Etymology
From Middle English diverten, Old French divertir (“to turn or go different ways, part, separate, divert”), from Latin di- (“apart”) + vertere (“to turn”); see verse.
Forms
- past tense
- diverted
- past participle
- diverted
- present participle
- diverting
- third person singular
- diverts