detract from


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Related to detract from: trip up
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detract from

verb
1. lessen, reduce, diminish, lower, take away from, derogate, devaluate Her faults did not seem to detract from her appeal.
lessen improve, boost, add to, strengthen, enhance, reinforce, complement, augment
2. divert, shift, distract, deflect, draw or lead away from They can only detract attention from the serious issues.
Usage: Detract is sometimes wrongly used where distract is meant: a noise distracted (not detracted) my attention.
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

detract

verb
To think, represent, or speak of as small or unimportant:
phrasal verb
detract from
To spoil the soundness or perfection of:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
References in classic literature ?
But, not to detract from a nation, to which, during my life, I shall acknowledge myself extremely obliged, it must be allowed, that whatever this famous tower wants in height, is amply made up in beauty and strength: for the walls are near a hundred feet thick, built of hewn stone, whereof each is about forty feet square, and adorned on all sides with statues of gods and emperors, cut in marble, larger than the life, placed in their several niches.
Your picture is so fine that my observation cannot detract from it, and, besides, it is only my personal opinion.
Morison was one that was not at all calculated to detract from the glory of the house of Baynes, or from that of its representative.
Nor will it detract from the interest they will all feel when they learn that the man whom madame entertained is a Russian servant--her brother's valet, to be quite exact."
And that would detract from the especial alarming significance we wish to give to the act.
Peggotty knowing nothing about her, and my mother saying nothing about her, she was quite a mystery in the parlour; and the fact of her having a magazine of jewellers' cotton in her pocket, and sticking the article in her ears in that way, did not detract from the solemnity of her presence.
You must admit, Hirst, that a little Italian town even would vulgarise the whole scene, would detract from the vastness--the sense of elemental grandeur." He swept his hands towards the forest, and paused for a moment, looking at the great green mass, which was now falling silent.
New York, Sept.18 (Petra)-- The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, early Monday, urged Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region to scrap plans for a referendum on independence later this month, saying it will detract from the fight against the terror group of Daesh.
However, the addition of single-player mission does not detract from Titanfall's multiplayer mode, which features a few new skills for players to utilize.
But the Raith Rovers boss insists neither extreme will detract from the achievement.
CITY bosses have knocked back plans to open a betting shop opposite Liverpool town hall because it would detract from the city's World Heritage Site.
"I'm glad it doesn't detract from my work, I hope it doesn't!