detract

Related to detract: thesaurus

detract from (someone or something)

To impact someone or something negatively; to diminish someone or something. Unfortunately, that outdated kitchen detracts from the overall value of your house. His lies detracted from his otherwise stellar record as a senator.
See also: detract
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

detract from someone or something

to lessen or diminish someone or something. The large pieces of furniture detracted from the lovely design in the carpet. Alice's quiet demeanor did not detract from her grace and beauty.
See also: detract
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

detract from

v.
To reduce a quality, importance, or some other value; diminish something: The dent on the side of the car detracts from its overall value. The politician's uneven voting record detracted from his chances of winning the election.
See also: detract
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • be/have done with somebody/something
  • be in line with (someone or something)
  • better of
  • (someone or something) promises well
  • begin with
  • begin with (someone or something)
  • bird has flown, the
  • beware of
  • beware of (someone or something)
  • be rough on (someone or something)
References in periodicals archive
The report adds this would "constitute incongruous, overly prominent and visually harmful building additions, and therefore detract from the character and appearance of the Grade II listed application building, and undermine the important contribution it makes to the special character and setting of the surrounding historic area."
Some would say (though this is not my own personal view) the building which houses our Central Library, detracts from this area.
The specifically English connotations of the title detract from the fact that AONBs exist not only in England, but also in Wales and Northern Ireland.
Still, that should not detract from the scholarly achievement of the latest addition to the Soane canon.
These illuminate the development of the novel and do not in any way detract from the flow.
The overall effect of the images was to detract from the intended message of caring for the caters.
"The reasons for our opposition are straightforward; as currently designed, the program will unnecessarily drain limited TSA resources and detract from the agency's ability to craft more comprehensive programs benefiting all travelers," wrote James May, ATA's president and CEO.
You can't fail with plain green leaves as a neutral background that won't detract from the flower.
This democratic installation did, however, detract from the emphasis on spectacle and narrative that has taken on such importance since the mid-'90s, as evident in Marina Abramovic's beautifully made The Lovers, the Great Wall Walk, 1998, or in the sex scene on horseback, candidly filmed in startling, fast-moving close-up, in Rustam Khalfin and Julia Tikhonova's Towards an Understanding of Limitations, 2005.
The head of the school says the incident should not "detract from the drugs awareness message."
Councillor Rodney Berman said that the 'inappropriate use' of words should not detract from the event which is staged at the Wales Millennium Centre on Thursday.
It enables the taking of snapshots in low-light conditions without the need for a flash, which until now often tended to detract from or even destroy the mood.
The artist index and polaroid model styles are in the back, so as not to detract from the image impacts.
While it is sometimes difficult to follow a timeline in this book, which bends one's sense of time in a manner reminiscent of Gabriel Garcia Marquez in his One Hundred Years of Solitude, this does not in any way detract from the story's engaging nature.
* score: twenty * consecrate: make sacred * hallow: honor; treat as if holy * detract: take away from