as in distracts
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 derails
Not to state the obvious, but this is the sort of loss that derails division title hopes.
—
Joe Nguyen, Denver Post, 12 Oct. 2025
Over the past year, my team dug into what really derails owner exits and what protects them.
—Lewis Schiff, Forbes.com, 18 Sep. 2025
Any mistakes, anything small, basically derails your career.
—Cara Anthony, Miami Herald, 13 Sep. 2025
Any mistakes, anything small, basically derails your career.
—Kff Health News, Oc Register, 12 Sep. 2025
Any mistakes, anything small, basically derails your career.
—Cara Anthony, CNN Money, 11 Sep. 2025
Just as Jackie's love triangle reaches an intense turning point, a sudden family emergency derails everything.
—Jordana Comiter, People.com, 28 Aug. 2025
That rise, revealed in the latest Apparel Impact Institute (Aii) report, brings the sector’s total footprint to 944 million metric tons of CO₂e—nearly 2 percent of all global emissions—and further derails the industry from its 2030 climate goals.
—Kurt Kipka, Sourcing Journal, 5 Aug. 2025
Joe Nguyen, Denver Post, 12 Oct. 2025
Over the past year, my team dug into what really derails owner exits and what protects them.
—Lewis Schiff, Forbes.com, 18 Sep. 2025
Any mistakes, anything small, basically derails your career.
—Cara Anthony, Miami Herald, 13 Sep. 2025
Any mistakes, anything small, basically derails your career.
—Kff Health News, Oc Register, 12 Sep. 2025
Any mistakes, anything small, basically derails your career.
—Cara Anthony, CNN Money, 11 Sep. 2025
Just as Jackie's love triangle reaches an intense turning point, a sudden family emergency derails everything.
—Jordana Comiter, People.com, 28 Aug. 2025
That rise, revealed in the latest Apparel Impact Institute (Aii) report, brings the sector’s total footprint to 944 million metric tons of CO₂e—nearly 2 percent of all global emissions—and further derails the industry from its 2030 climate goals.
—Kurt Kipka, Sourcing Journal, 5 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for derails
Verb
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But Antonio distracts him by accusing him in the town square of sending Justina off to El Alcazar and poisoning his son.—
Dave Nemetz,
TVLine,
12 Oct. 2025
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And when our American players have to control the crowd, that distracts them from playing.—
Scott Thompson,
FOXNews.com,
3 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Currently comprising more than 8,300 active satellites, the Starlink constellation also disturbs radio telescope observations.—
Tereza Pultarova,
Space.com,
11 Sep. 2025
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The water is perfectly clear — until someone brushes the side of the cave or disturbs the soft bottom, sending fine silt particles billowing into the beam of a headlamp.—
Jennifer Walker,
CNN Money,
18 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Why ban books, Postman asked, if no one bothers to read them?—
Time,
Time,
10 Sep. 2025
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What bothers her most is how the refusal seemed to change her brother’s behavior.—
Ashley Vega,
PEOPLE,
10 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Such variability worries Hedy Chang, executive director of Attendance Works, a national nonprofit organization focused on chronic absenteeism.—
Eli Cahan,
Rolling Stone,
16 Oct. 2025
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Celia Monreal worries every day about the cartilage loss in her husband’s knees.—
Eleanor Pringle,
Fortune,
16 Oct. 2025
Verb
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While Cherry is more versed at keeping her rage simmering just below the surface, Laura struggles to hide her anguish and disgust, which alarms those closest to her.—
Aramide Tinubu,
Variety,
10 Sep. 2025
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But the administration’s approach alarms other Jewish groups and erstwhile academic allies in the fight against campus antisemitism.—
Peter Elkind,
ProPublica,
27 Aug. 2025
Verb
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The latest not-quite-smoking-gun claim concerns a potential exomoon that may be erupting to spew debris onto and around its host planet.—
Nola Taylor Tillman,
Scientific American,
13 Oct. 2025
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Bubble concerns Stocks — particularly those related to AI — have soared this year.—
Tasmin Lockwood,
CNBC,
12 Oct. 2025
Verb
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And nothing angers the Survivor gods more than reality TV hubris.—
Dalton Ross,
Entertainment Weekly,
2 Oct. 2025
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Kirk assassination angers and unsettles leaders, residents The assassination of Kirk, which happened in front of hundreds of people and was captured on video and widely circulated on social media, has in particular rattled the nation and drawn condemnation from across the political spectrum.—
Mark Vancleave,
Twin Cities,
13 Sep. 2025
Verb
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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
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No humor benefits from being seen among other people so much as the kind that throws or unsettles you — a tension that is resolved, gloriously, when the audience collectively gives in and decides to roar with laughter.—
Robert Rubsam,
New York Times,
1 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Derails.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/derails. Accessed 19 Oct. 2025.
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