Meanings
present singular third person detracts · participle present detracting · participle past detracted · past detracted
- intransitiveTo take away; to withdraw or remove.
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.
1846, editorial staff, “CHEMISTRY”, in Scientific American, series 1, Volume 2, Issue 13, page 1021 more example
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.
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, archived from the original on 14 Aug 2012
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo take credit or reputation from; to derogate; to defame or decry.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latindetractum
- Middle Frenchdétracter
- Englishdetract
Borrowed from Middle French détracter, from Latin detractum, past participle of detraho.
More words from Middle French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic اِنْتَقَصَ
- اِنْتَقَصَ (intaqaṣa)to take credit or reputation from; to defame or decry
Bulgarian отнемам, злословя
- отнемам (otnemam)to take away; to withdraw or remove
- злословя (zloslovja)to take credit or reputation from; to defame or decry
Finnish poistaa, vähentää
- poistaato take away; to withdraw or remove
- vähentääto take away; to withdraw or remove
- vähätelläto take credit or reputation from; to defame or decry
- häpäistäto take credit or reputation from; to defame or decry
- häväistäto take credit or reputation from; to defame or decry
- mustamaalatato take credit or reputation from; to defame or decry
Russian отнима́ть, вычита́ть
- отнима́ть (otnimátʹ)to take away; to withdraw or remove
- вычита́ть (vyčitátʹ)to take away; to withdraw or remove
- уменьша́ть (umenʹšátʹ)to take away; to withdraw or remove
- умалять (umaljatʹ)to take credit or reputation from; to defame or decry
- принижать (prinižatʹ)to take credit or reputation from; to defame or decry
- приуменьшать (priumenʹšatʹ)to take credit or reputation from; to defame or decry
Spanish detraer, desvirtuar
- detraerto take away; to withdraw or remove
- desvirtuarto take credit or reputation from; to defame or decry
- detractarto take credit or reputation from; to defame or decry
- detraerto take credit or reputation from; to defame or decry
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with detract
Cite this entry
detract. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/detract
“detract.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/detract. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “detract,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/detract.
Source: detract on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.