sidetrackside‧track /ˈsaɪdtræk/ verb [transitive] 
Don’t get sidetracked by the audience’s questions.2American English to delay or stop the progress of something: An effort to improve security was sidetracked by budget problems.GRAMMAR Sidetrack is usually passive.
VERB TABLE
sidetrack
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | sidetrack |
| he, she, it | sidetracks | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | sidetracked |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have sidetracked |
| he, she, it | has sidetracked | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had sidetracked |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will sidetrack |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have sidetracked |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am sidetracking |
| he, she, it | is sidetracking | |
| you, we, they | are sidetracking | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was sidetracking |
| you, we, they | were sidetracking | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been sidetracking |
| he, she, it | has been sidetracking | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been sidetracking |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be sidetracking |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been sidetracking |
EXAMPLES FROM THE CORPUS
- A dozen of the ducks were sidetracked to Northern California, where they became the basis for contemporary duck farms.
- Along the way, they intend to sidetrack some of President Bush's most controversial proposals, while compromising on others.
- But he was by now too aroused to be sidetracked.
- He hovered for a moment, but his mind was too full to be sidetracked.
- Kemp and Gore served in Congress together and had seen their presidential ambitions sidetracked in 1988.
- Only the really great champions refuse to be sidetracked by any of these minor problems.
- The only way to keep a governor from becoming senator is to sidetrack him off into the presidency.
- Without this the purchaser may be sidetracked into calculations on a whole host of other matters which are not strictly relevant.
Longman Language Activatorto stop talking about the subject you are supposed to be talking about
also go off the subject British · I think we're getting off the subject. Could we get back to the main point, please?· Well, going off the subject a minute, what about that Uri Geller chap?
formal to move away from the main subject that you have been talking or writing about, especially for a short time during a speech or story: · Before we do that, I'd like to digress for a minute and say a word or two about the new books.
if you are talking about something and are sidetracked or get sidetracked , you allow yourself to start talking or thinking about something else, especially something less important: · I was going to ask him, but he got sidetracked by this guy and I never got a chance.· Don't be sidetracked by the way the interviewer asks the questions - just keep making the relevant points.
if you stray from the subject you are talking about, you start talking about other things instead, for example, because you cannot keep your attention on the main subject: · Promise yourself that you'll try not to stray from the issue at hand.· Well, we've strayed quite a way from space exploration.
to talk, especially for a long time, moving from one subject to another without any clear order, so that your listener becomes bored or confused: · In his diary, the Unabomber rambled at length about the evils of technology.ramble on (=ramble continuously and in an annoying way): · I sat down and let him ramble on for a few minutes.
also lose the thread to become confused about or forget the connection between the things you are saying, especially so that you have to stop talking and think about what you want to say next: · The audience's reaction surprised him, and he lost his train of thought for a moment.· I'm sorry, I seem to have lost my thread.lose the thread of something: · Arthur paused, feeling he was beginning to lose the thread of his argument.
spoken say this when you want to continue what you were saying before you were interrupted, but you cannot remember what you were saying: · Thanks for that, Gillian. Now, where was I?· So, where was I? Oh yes, the accession of Henry the Fifth.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY Don’t get sidetracked by the audience’s questions.COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSVERB
1to make someone stop doing what they should be doing, or stop talking about what they started talking about, by making them interested in something else: Don’t get sidetracked by the audience’s questions.· But I think you're right about soaps recently getting sidetracked into men and men's problems.· I once wanted to be a meteorologist but got sidetracked into this.
Don’t get sidetracked by the audience’s questions.2American English to delay or stop the progress of something: An effort to improve security was sidetracked by budget problems.GRAMMAR Sidetrack is usually passive.