Meaning
Divert means to change the direction or purpose of something, or to entertain and distract someone from their usual focus or worries.
Grammar and Usage
- Part of speech: Verb (transitive)
- Forms: diverts, diverting, diverted
Common patterns:
- divert A to B — change the direction of something toward another target
- divert A from B — turn someone’s attention away from something
- be diverted by — be entertained by something
Common Phrases
- divert traffic — to change the route of vehicles
- divert attention — to shift focus away from something
- divert funds — to use money for a different purpose
- divert resources — to allocate resources elsewhere
Collocations
- divert someone’s attention
- divert funds/resources
- divert a river/flight/road
- divert traffic flow
Examples
- Police diverted traffic to a side road due to the accident.
- The company was accused of diverting funds meant for research.
- The teacher diverted the students’ attention with a funny story.
- The new park was built to divert tourists from overcrowded areas.
- A temporary channel was dug to divert the river.
- She tried to divert herself with a good book after the argument.
- The manager diverted resources to handle the urgent issue.
- The film was lighthearted and diverted the audience for two hours.
Synonyms or Related
- redirect
- reroute
- distract
- amuse
- entertain
Antonym
- focus
- concentrate
- direct
- align