"drive to distraction" meaning in English

See drive to distraction in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

IPA: /ˌdɹaɪv tə dɪsˈtɹækʃ(ə)n/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˌdɹaɪv tə dɪsˈtɹækʃən/ [General-American], /də-/ [General-American] Forms: drives to distraction [present, singular, third-person], driving to distraction [participle, present], drove to distraction [past], driven to distraction [participle, past]
Etymology: From drive (“to cause to become”) + to + distraction (“deranged state of mind; insanity”). Etymology templates: {{m|en|drive|t=to cause to become}} drive (“to cause to become”), {{m|en|to}} to, {{m|en|distraction|t=deranged state of mind; insanity}} distraction (“deranged state of mind; insanity”) Head templates: {{en-verb|drive<,,drove,driven> to distraction}} drive to distraction (third-person singular simple present drives to distraction, present participle driving to distraction, simple past drove to distraction, past participle driven to distraction)
  1. (transitive, hyperbolic) To annoy (someone) so much that they cannot concentrate. Tags: excessive, transitive Synonyms: drive crazy, drive round the bend, drive up the wall Related terms: to distraction
    Sense id: en-drive_to_distraction-en-verb-oPQDgyCd Categories (other): English hyperboles

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for drive to distraction meaning in English (2.0kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "drive",
        "t": "to cause to become"
      },
      "expansion": "drive (“to cause to become”)",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "to"
      },
      "expansion": "to",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "distraction",
        "t": "deranged state of mind; insanity"
      },
      "expansion": "distraction (“deranged state of mind; insanity”)",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From drive (“to cause to become”) + to + distraction (“deranged state of mind; insanity”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "drives to distraction",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "driving to distraction",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "drove to distraction",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "driven to distraction",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "drive<,,drove,driven> to distraction"
      },
      "expansion": "drive to distraction (third-person singular simple present drives to distraction, present participle driving to distraction, simple past drove to distraction, past participle driven to distraction)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "drive"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English hyperboles",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To annoy (someone) so much that they cannot concentrate."
      ],
      "id": "en-drive_to_distraction-en-verb-oPQDgyCd",
      "links": [
        [
          "annoy",
          "annoy"
        ],
        [
          "concentrate",
          "concentrate#Verb"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, hyperbolic) To annoy (someone) so much that they cannot concentrate."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "to distraction"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "drive crazy"
        },
        {
          "word": "drive round the bend"
        },
        {
          "word": "drive up the wall"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "excessive",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌdɹaɪv tə dɪsˈtɹækʃ(ə)n/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌdɹaɪv tə dɪsˈtɹækʃən/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/də-/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "drive to distraction"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "drive",
        "t": "to cause to become"
      },
      "expansion": "drive (“to cause to become”)",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "to"
      },
      "expansion": "to",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "distraction",
        "t": "deranged state of mind; insanity"
      },
      "expansion": "distraction (“deranged state of mind; insanity”)",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From drive (“to cause to become”) + to + distraction (“deranged state of mind; insanity”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "drives to distraction",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "driving to distraction",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "drove to distraction",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "driven to distraction",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "drive<,,drove,driven> to distraction"
      },
      "expansion": "drive to distraction (third-person singular simple present drives to distraction, present participle driving to distraction, simple past drove to distraction, past participle driven to distraction)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "drive"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "to distraction"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English hyperboles",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "English transitive verbs",
        "English verbs"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To annoy (someone) so much that they cannot concentrate."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "annoy",
          "annoy"
        ],
        [
          "concentrate",
          "concentrate#Verb"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, hyperbolic) To annoy (someone) so much that they cannot concentrate."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "drive crazy"
        },
        {
          "word": "drive round the bend"
        },
        {
          "word": "drive up the wall"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "excessive",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌdɹaɪv tə dɪsˈtɹækʃ(ə)n/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌdɹaɪv tə dɪsˈtɹækʃən/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/də-/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "drive to distraction"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-03-12 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-03-01 using wiktextract (68773ab and 5f6ddbb). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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