desviar
Spanish, verb/desˈbjaɾ/
desviar is spelled D-E-S-V-I-A-R (7 letters) and appears 4.4 times per million words in written Spanish, the 13,207th most frequent Spanish word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Desviar is a Spanish verb meaning “to divert, to distract, to shift, to sidetrack” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) defines it as “Hacer que alguien o algo se salga de la ruta o dirección que llevaba o quería seguir”.
What does desviar mean in English?
verb
- 1
to divert, to distract, to shift, to sidetrack
- 2
to deflect
- 3
to derail (e.g. a movement, a process)
- 4
to bypass, to reroute, to redirect
- 5
to siphon, to siphon off (e.g. money, funds)
- 6
to forward (a phone call)
- 7
to avert (e.g. one's eyes or gaze)
- 8
to change (e.g. the subject, the course, the conversation)
Source: English Wiktionary, Spanish section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Spanish dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Hacer que alguien o algo se salga de la ruta o dirección que llevaba o quería seguir. 2. Hacer que alguien se aparte de la intención, decisión, objetivo u opinión que tenía. 3. Separar la espada del contrario, formando otro ángulo, para que no hiera en el punto en que estaba.
verb: 1. Tomar distancia.
The definition in the Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), in Spanish.
Source: Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of desviar
- desvío first-person present singular
- desvié first-person preterite singular
- desviado participle past
- i-í alternation
- desviando gerund
- desviada feminine participle past
- desviados masculine participle past
- desviadas feminine participle past
- desvías indicative informal present
- desviás indicative informal present
- desvía indicative present singular
- desviamos first-person indicative plural
- desviáis indicative plural present
- desvían indicative plural present
- desviaba first-person imperfect indicative
- desviabas imperfect indicative second-person
- desviábamos first-person imperfect indicative
- desviabais imperfect indicative plural
Source: English Wiktionary and Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce desviar?
- /desˈbjaɾ/
- [d̪ezˈβ̞jaɾ]
- [d̪esˈβ̞jaɾ]
Sources: English Wiktionary, Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to desviar
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is desviar in Spanish?
desviar appears 4.4 times per million words in written Spanish.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).