different between distract vs debate

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin distractus, from distrah? (“to pull apart”), from dis- + trah? (“to pull”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d?s?t?ækt/
• Rhymes: -ækt

Verb

distract (third-person singular simple present distracts, present participle distracting, simple past and past participle distracted)

1. (transitive) To divert the attention of.
2. (transitive) To make crazy or insane; to drive to distraction.

Related terms

• distracted
• distractible
• distracting
• distraction

Translations

Adjective

distract (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Separated; drawn asunder.
2. (obsolete) Insane; mad.
   • 1612, Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion song 6 p. 3[1]:

     (Alone shee beeing left the spoyle of love and death,

     In labour of her griefe outrageously distract,

     The utmost of her spleene on her false lord to act)

See also

• distraught

Anagrams

• adstrict

English

Etymology

From Old French debatre (“to fight, contend, debate, also literally to beat down”), from Romanic desbattere, from Latin dis- (“apart, in different directions”) + battuere (“to beat, to fence”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d??be?t/
• Rhymes: -e?t

Noun

debate (countable and uncountable, plural debates)

1. An argument, or discussion, usually in an ordered or formal setting, often with more than two people, generally ending with a vote or other decision.

2. An informal and spirited but generally civil discussion of opposing views.
3. (uncountable) Discussion of opposing views.
4. (frequently in the French form débat) A type of literary composition, taking the form of a discussion or disputation, commonly found in the vernacular medieval poetry of many European countries, as well as in medieval Latin.
5. (obsolete) Strife, discord.

Translations

Verb

debate (third-person singular simple present debates, present participle debating, simple past and past participle debated)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To participate in a debate; to dispute, argue, especially in a public arena. [from 14th c.]
   • August 11, 1709, Isaac Bickerstaff (pseudonym for Richard Steele or (in some later numbers of the journal) Joseph Addison), The Tatler No. 53

     He presents that great soul debating upon the subject of life and death with his intimate friends.

2. (obsolete, intransitive) To fight. [14th-17th c.]
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.viii:

     Well knew they both his person, sith of late / With him in bloudie armes they rashly did debate.

   • 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 15:

     ... wasteful Time debateth with Decay,

     To change your day of youth to sullied night

3. (obsolete, transitive) To engage in combat for; to strive for.
   • 1838, William H. Prescott, History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic

     Volunteers […] thronged to serve under his banner, and the cause of religion was debated with the same ardour in Spain as on the plains of Palestine.

4. (transitive) To consider (to oneself), to think over, to attempt to decide

Derived terms

• debater

Related terms

• debatable
• debation

Translations

Further reading

• debate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• debate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• beated, bed tea, bed-tea, betaed

Albanian

Noun

debate m pl

1. indefinite plural of debat

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /de.?ba.t?i/

Noun

debate m (plural debates)

1. debate

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:debate.

Verb

debate

1. third-person singular present indicative of debater
2. second-person singular imperative of debater

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:debate.

Spanish

Noun

debate m (plural debates)

1. debate, discussion

Related terms

• debatir

Verb

debate

1. Informal second-person singular (tú) affirmative imperative form of debatir.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present indicative form of debatir.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present indicative form of debatir.