to draw (somebody or their attention) away from the task in hand, etc
to divert (somebody)
Think of something to distract the baby
archaic to drive (somebody) mad
distractibility /-təʹbiliti/ noun
distractible adj
distracting adj
distractingly adv
distractive /-tiv/ adj
[Middle English distracten from Latin distractus, past part. of distrahere to draw apart, from dis- + trahere to draw]