Definition of "distrait" [dis•trait]

• Inattentive or preoccupied, especially because of anxiety: "When she did not occupy her accustomed chair at the seminar, Freud felt uneasy and distrait” ( Times Literary Supplement). (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Being, however, quite unaccustomed to dealing with this dual condition of mind it is to be feared he was a little "distrait" and mechanical of speech."
• "Auntie became excessively pale, and was sometimes quite "distrait" and bewildered-looking, which was little wonder, considering all she had to do and arrange."
• "I took care never to be absent or 'distrait'; but on the contrary, attended to everything that was said, done, or even looked, in company; I never failed in the minutest attentions and was never 'journalier'."