1Cause (someone) to be distracted from an immediate or important issue.

1. 1.1 Divert (a project or debate) away from a central issue or previously determined plan.
   the effort at reform has been sidetracked for years

   Example sentencesExamples

   • When they finally reached him, he claimed that the project had been temporarily sidetracked by permit problems.
   • The formerly fast tracked Lords of Dogtown film project is now said to be sidetracked.
   • The principal objective was increasing productivity; the issue of the workers' right to determine how earnings were to be spent was sidetracked.
   • The immediate impact of his intervention was to sidetrack preventative campaigns.
   • If I respond you have succeeded in sidetracking the debate.
   • It is unfortunate that in these last few months the debate on these matters has threatened to be sidetracked by those taking extreme positions that either excite irrational fears or promote unrealistic expectations.
   • This basic task gets sidetracked by the grandiose project of linking up the rivers.
   • The dismissal comes after Tanaka's latest row with bureaucrats and their political backers threatened to sidetrack Koizumi's goal of economic reforms.
   • As for Pat O'Shane, she maintains that continuing to focus on her controversial comments is sidetracking debate from big picture issues.
   • We cannot permit the discussion to be sidetracked into yet another sterile debate about human rights conceived in the abstract and unrelated to the concrete circumstances of the historical moment.
   • Outwit your winter slump: here's how to prevent weather, stress, travel and fatigue from sidetracking your exercise - GetMotivated
   • Let's not get distracted by futile debates or sidetracked by issues that have been going on for centuries!
   • But when Jacqueline's parents, who lived in Nashville, Tennessee, became ill, the Jacksons' financial plans were sidetracked.
   • That movement, and the debate surrounding it, could completely sidetrack the issue of public safety on Whyte Avenue.
   • For supporters of the Illinois Central Railroad Project, money coming from Washington is only delayed now, not sidetracked.
   • Plans for an initial public offering of Piaggio's shares in 2005 were sidetracked by the Aprilia acquisition.
   • This examination, sidetracked by the Brooklyn crisis, will now resume, Friedman said, with concrete proposals to be presented to the city and mayor.
   • Prodi's ambitious plans for EU expansion to the east will be sidetracked.
   • Second, funding for emergency responders has been sidetracked and stalled due to the politics of the appropriations process, the slow distribution of funds by federal agencies, and bureaucracy.
   • Katcha bounced up and down in her chair impatiently, refusing to let the question be sidetracked.

   Synonyms

   distract, divert, deflect, draw away, lead away, turn aside, head off

2North American Direct (a train) into a branch line or siding.

1. 2.1 Divert (a well or borehole) to reach a productive deposit or to avoid an obstruction.
   a development well drilled in the south-west field is flowing at thousands of barrels a day after being sidetracked

   Example sentencesExamples

   • These rigs are used to perform a variety of completion, workover and maintenance services, such as installations, completions, assisting with perforating, removing defective equipment and sidetracking wells.
   • More work needs to be done to prove the commercial significance of the find, with the project's partners to spend an additional $3 million on sidetracking the well.
   • We also install whipstocks to sidetrack wells, provide plugging and abandonment services, pipe recovery and wireline recovery services, foam services and casing patch installation.

1A minor path or track.

1. 1.1North American A railway branch line or siding.
   Example sentencesExamples

   • The conductor told us to lock the cabins and not let anyone inside unless he told us to because thieves pretending to be police quite often preyed on the sleeping cars parked in the sidetracks.
   • One of the major disadvantages of rail transport is that a fast train cannot run on the same line as a suburban, stopping slow train without sidetracks and expensive signalling.
   • Admit that it was the carelessness of the company's agents, in leaving the switch open, that threw the train upon the side track.
   • Between this building and the main track, over which passenger trains usually run, is a side track connecting with the main track east, but not west.
2. 1.2 A well or borehole which runs partly to one side of the original line of drilling.
   a sidetrack to the original discovery well

   Example sentencesExamples

   • An existing well, drilled with a section through a tight sand interval was judged unlikely to fully drain the panel, so a sidetrack with an openhole drain length of 1,000 m was drilled from the 7-in. liner using an intermediate radius curve
   • The drilling of a well after a slot reclamation (which previously had a well) is considered a sidetrack.
   • If a sidetrack is made to bypass an obstruction while the surface and target locations remain the same this is called a mechanical sidetrack.