sidetracking

verb

Definition of sidetrackingnext
present participle of sidetrack
as in deviating

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Examples Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for sidetracking
  1. averting
  2. diverting
  3. shifting
  4. redirecting
  5. switching
  6. transferring
Verb
  • Instead of averting a partisan battle, the delay ignited one.
    David D. Kirkpatrick, The New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2024
  • In a future pandemic, that could mean saving 6 million lives globally and averting 91% of the kind of economic losses and disruptions to education that resulted from the last pandemic.
    Jano Costard, Fortune Europe, 16 Oct. 2024
Definition of averting
Verb
  • With European powers diverting men and supplies to Europe in 1939-41 to battle Nazi Germany, colonies in the Pacific were mostly undefended.
    Jenna Prestininzi, Detroit Free Press, 5 Dec. 2024
  • Opponents, however, dislike diverting taxpayer funding from public schools to private ones and point to examples of misuse of funds, in such cases as this one.
    Annabella Rosciglione, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 4 Dec. 2024
Definition of diverting
Verb
  • In the late 20th century, shifting consumer tastes and economic downturns led to the closure of many whiskey distilleries worldwide.
    Anthony Zhang, Forbes, 11 Dec. 2024
  • The Time Is Now With trillions of dollars in wealth shifting hands, the opportunity to connect with this audience of women is now.
    Ben Kunz, Forbes, 11 Dec. 2024
Definition of shifting
Verb
  • This property makes tungsten an ideal material for a divertor, a critical component that manages and absorbs the intense heat in fusion reactors by redirecting plasma particles away from the reactor’s walls and safely transferring the heat to cooler parts of the system.
    Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 29 Nov. 2024
  • Ukraine is actively redirecting Russian explosive drones back toward Russia and Belarus by confusing their navigation systems, according to a new report, as Moscow hammers Ukraine with large-scale kamikaze uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) and missile strikes.
    Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 28 Nov. 2024
Definition of redirecting
Verb
  • Within this context, emotional and contextual data must be used as levers to foster deeper emotional connections across all key moments with customers to increase their lifetime value, while also decreasing their likelihood of switching brands and improving engagement that is emotionally led.
    Billee Howard, Forbes, 10 Dec. 2024
  • Lynx, developed by Deep Robotics, demonstrates exceptional mobility, switching between wheels and traditional quadruped modes for climbing stairs or overcoming obstacles.
    Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 10 Dec. 2024
Definition of switching
Verb
  • The hearing will address the legal process of transferring a suspect to another jurisdiction for prosecution.
    Amanda Castro, Newsweek, 10 Dec. 2024
  • But like with Knecht, who played at Northern Colorado for two seasons before transferring to Tennessee, the Volunteers have received major contributions from small college transfers.
    Tim Casey, Forbes, 10 Dec. 2024
Definition of transferring
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Thesaurus Entries Near sidetracking

sidetracked

sidetracking

sidetracks

See More Nearby Entries 

Cite this Entry

“Sidetracking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sidetracking. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.

Copy Citation

Share

More from Merriam-Webster on sidetracking

Nglish: Translation of sidetracking for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See All

Point of View: It's Personal

Plural and Possessive Names: A Guide

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

More Commonly Misspelled Words

Words You Always Have to Look Up
See All

Popular in Wordplay

See All

8 Words with Fascinating Histories

8 Words for Lesser-Known Musical Instruments

Birds Say the Darndest Things

10 Words from Taylor Swift Songs (Merriam's Version)

10 Scrabble Words Without Any Vowels
See All

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Word Game Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
naughty or nice
Are you naughty or nice? Quiz He's making a quiz, and checking it twice...