divert

Divert is a verb with several related senses. It most often means to cause something to change course or direction, such as diverting a river to a new channel or diverting traffic onto a detour. It can also mean to entertain or distract someone, as when a speaker diverts an audience’s attention from a problem. The noun form is diversion.

The word comes from Middle French diverter, from Latin divertere, divertere, from dis- “away” + vertere “to turn.”

Engineering and infrastructure use: a river diversion involves creating channels or structures to redirect water flow for construction, flood control, or irrigation. In road work, a diversion designates a temporary or permanent detour route. In telecommunications and computing, to divert a call or data stream means to route it to a different destination under policy or user settings. In finance and public administration, diverting funds means reallocating resources to a different project or purpose, sometimes under legal or managerial authorization.

Usage and nuance: divert often implies turning away from a current course, either physically (a path, stream) or metaphorically (attention, resources). Its related noun, diversion, refers to the act or instance of diverting or the resulting route or activity.

See also: detour, redirection, diversion.

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