DETRACT • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Detract

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/dɪtrˈækt/ Listen

verb

Detract v. t. (past & past part. detracted; pres. part. detracting)

To take away; to withdraw. "Detract much from the view of the without."

To take credit or reputation from; to defame. "That calumnious critic... Detracting what laboriously we do."

Synonyms: To derogate; decry; disparage; depreciate; asperse; vilify; defame; traduce. See Decry.

Detract v. i. To take away a part or something, especially from one's credit; to lessen reputation; to derogate; to defame; often with from. "It has been the fashion to detract both from the moral and literary character of Cicero."

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Etymology of 'Detract'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Detract" Quotes from Famous Books

... the Bible a common school-book would detract from its sacredness in the eyes of the children, and thus blunt rather than quicken their moral susceptibilities, is plausible; but it will not, I am confident, bear the test of examination and experience. What were the Scriptures given us for, if not to be read by the old and the ...

— Popular Education - For the use of Parents and Teachers, and for Young Persons of Both Sexes • Ira Mayhew

... moment when she was walking to and fro with folded arms, pensive and melancholy. Avdotya Romanovna was remarkably good looking; she was tall, strikingly well-proportioned, strong and self-reliant—the latter quality was apparent in every gesture, though it did not in the least detract from the grace and softness of her movements. In face she resembled her brother, but she might be described as really beautiful. Her hair was dark brown, a little lighter than her brother's; there was a proud ...

— Crime and Punishment • Fyodor Dostoyevsky

... confused manner, or have admitted some gossiping stories, the falsehood of which can now plainly be detected. Such blemishes, which occur chiefly in the earlier part of Ferdinand's book, do not essentially detract from its high authority.[404] The limits which bounded the son's accurate knowledge seem also to have bounded that of such friends as Bernaldez, who did not become acquainted with Columbus until after his arrival ...

— The Discovery of America Vol. 1 (of 2) - with some account of Ancient America and the Spanish Conquest • John Fiske

... we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have ...

— The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln • Helen Nicolay

... agrees with the responsible director of foreign policy in the complete recognition of the high political importance which the Japanese people have achieved by their political strength and military ability. German policy does not regard it as its task to detract from the enjoyment and development of what ...

— William of Germany • Stanley Shaw

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