From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Distraction \Dis*trac"tion\, noun [L. distractio: cf. F. distraction.]
1. The act of distracting; a drawing apart; separation.
To create distractions among us. --Bp. Burnet.
2. That which diverts attention; a diversion. ''Domestic distractions.'' --G. Eliot.
3. A diversity of direction; detachment. [Obs.]
His power went out in such distractions as Beguiled all species. --Shak.
4. State in which the attention is called in different ways; confusion; perplexity.
That ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction. --1 Cor. vii. 35.
5. Confusion of affairs; tumult; disorder; as, political distractions.
Never was known a night of such distraction. --Dryden.
6. Agitation from violent emotions; perturbation of mind; despair.
The distraction of the children, who saw both their parents together, would have melted the hardest heart. --Tatler.
7. Derangement of the mind; madness. --Atterbury.
Syn: Perplexity; confusion; disturbance; disorder; dissension; tumult; derangement; madness; raving; franticness; furiousness.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: mental turmoil; "he drives me to distraction"
3: an entertainment that provokes pleased interest and distracts you from worries and vexations [syn: {beguilement}]
4: the act of distracting; drawing someone's attention away from something; "conjurers are experts at misdirection" [syn: {misdirection}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
99 Moby Thesaurus words for "distraction": aberration, abnormality, absentmindedness, agitation, alienation, amusement, befuddlement, bewilderment, brain damage, brainsickness, carelessness, clouded mind, confusion, craziness, daftness, dementedness, dementia, derangement, disorder, disorientation, disregard, disregardfulness, dissipation, disturbance, diversion, divertissement, entertainment, flightiness, flippancy, folie, frivolousness, furor, giddiness, heedlessness, inadvertence, inadvertency, inattention, inattentiveness, inconsideration, incuriosity, indifference, inobservance, insaneness, insanity, irrationality, levity, lightmindedness, loss of mind, loss of reason, lunacy, madness, mania, mental deficiency, mental derangement, mental disease, mental disorder, mental disturbance, mental illness, mental instability, mental sickness, mind overthrown, mindsickness, negligence, nonobservance, obliviousness, oddness, pixilation, possession, psychopathy, queerness, rabidness, reasonlessness, recreation, regardlessness, senselessness, shallowness, shattered mind, sick mind, sickness, strangeness, superficiality, thoughtlessness, unalertness, unawareness, unbalance, unbalanced mind, unconsciousness, unheedfulness, unintentiveness, unmindfulness, unobservance, unsaneness, unsound mind, unsoundness, unsoundness of mind, unwariness, unwatchfulness, upset, witlessness
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