as in to distract
to trouble the mind of; to make uneasy
according to police, the suspect had been derailed in recent months by mounting financial problems
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Recent Examples of derail
But Sparkle Megan didn't let that bump in the road derail her mission to find a husband.
—
Sydney Bucksbaum, Entertainment Weekly, 1 Oct. 2025
Head coach James Franklin agreed to participate only after he was convinced the stunt wouldn't derail his team's rhythm.
—Jp Mangalindan, Time, 30 Sep. 2025
Injuries and poor performances have derailed the last two seasons and cost them a trip to the playoffs.
—Drew Vonscio, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Sep. 2025
Resorting to an omnibus is now common, even though it is reviled by many rank-and-file lawmakers who resent being deprived of the ability to resist individual spending provisions without derailing the sole vehicle for averting a shutdown.
—Lazaro Gamio, New York Times, 29 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for derail
Sydney Bucksbaum, Entertainment Weekly, 1 Oct. 2025
Head coach James Franklin agreed to participate only after he was convinced the stunt wouldn't derail his team's rhythm.
—Jp Mangalindan, Time, 30 Sep. 2025
Injuries and poor performances have derailed the last two seasons and cost them a trip to the playoffs.
—Drew Vonscio, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Sep. 2025
Resorting to an omnibus is now common, even though it is reviled by many rank-and-file lawmakers who resent being deprived of the ability to resist individual spending provisions without derailing the sole vehicle for averting a shutdown.
—Lazaro Gamio, New York Times, 29 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for derail
Recent Examples of Synonyms for derail
Verb
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To many climate advocates, focusing too much on measures to prepare society for the physical costs of climate change risked distracting from efforts to cut emissions.—
Justin Worland,
Time,
3 Oct. 2025
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Critics, though, have argued that these efforts are serving to distract from the country’s record of repressing free speech and dissent, as well as human rights violations, which have been widely reported.—
Marni Rose McFall,
MSNBC Newsweek,
3 Oct. 2025
Verb
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When a school principal (Ashley Padilla) and a teacher (Mikey Day) reprimand a student (Hernandez) for disturbing drawings of him attacking the principal, the student’s father (Bad Bunny) comes in, and Padilla’s principal, immediately smitten, changes course to hitting on the student’s father.—
Rima Parikh,
Vulture,
5 Oct. 2025
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The deaths have disturbed the Cranford community.—
Zoe Sottile,
CNN Money,
4 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Reviewing pages have been thinned by the forces of history and technology; few Pynchon skeptics anymore bother to take the time to read the novels and register their objections.—
Book Marks
October 2,
Literary Hub,
2 Oct. 2025
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But Bob Say, owner of Los Angeles’ Freakbeat Records, for one, isn’t all that bothered.—
Roy Trakin,
Rolling Stone,
1 Oct. 2025
Verb
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As if the local deer population had enough to worry about as the bow hunting season begins, now a disease is spreading between them.—
Kirsten Fiscus,
Nashville Tennessean,
5 Oct. 2025
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From junior staffers worried about automation to managers fearing irrelevance, no one feels entirely safe.—
Preston Fore,
Fortune,
5 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Union leaders are also alarmed by new regulations announced Tuesday that increase the minimum number of workers required to form a union from 20 to 50, and raise the maximum number of unions per factory from three to five.—
Mayu Saini,
Sourcing Journal,
2 Oct. 2025
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European leaders, alarmed at the rise in airspace incursions and the security threat that drones pose, proposed building a drone wall to protect the region’s eastern flank against potential attacks and incursions.—
Holly Ellyatt,
CNBC,
1 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Her attorneys said Ozturk, a Turkish national, spent six weeks in detention for writing an op-ed in her student newspaper the year before that criticized the university’s rejection of student government resolutions concerning Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.—
Aaron Katersky,
ABC News,
30 Sep. 2025
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More concerning still is what the expiration of AGOA portends for the future, the academic believes.—
Kate Nishimura,
Sourcing Journal,
30 Sep. 2025
Verb
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In doing so, Piccioli subtly weaves in his own creative quirks, while winking (from behind dark glasses) at his predecessor — a way of not entirely unsettling the clientele won over during the previous decade.—
Alex Wynne,
Footwear News,
5 Oct. 2025
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The result is slower, more volatile law-making — the kind of regulatory instability that unsettles investors.—
Felicia Jackson,
Forbes.com,
3 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Guardiola was agitated that Van Hecke went to ground inside his own penalty area in a shirt-tugging duel with Erling Haaland.—
Andy Naylor,
New York Times,
6 Oct. 2025
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Immerse your berries in the water and gently agitate them.—
Meghan Overdeep,
Southern Living,
29 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Derail.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/derail. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.
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