What does desviar in Spanish mean?

What is the meaning of the word desviar in Spanish? The article explains the full meaning, pronunciation along with bilingual examples and instructions on how to use desviar in Spanish.

The word desviar in Spanish means divert, turn off, stray, wander, distract, divert, divert funds, siphon funds, divert attention, look away, forward a phone call, forward a call. To learn more, please see the details below.

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Meaning of the word desviar

divert

verbo transitivo (cambiar la ruta)

(transitive verb: Verb taking a direct object--for example, "Say something." "She found the cat.")
Desviaron el curso del río para prevenir inundaciones en la localidad.
They diverted the course of the river to prevent floods in the region.

turn off

verbo pronominal (cambiar de rumbo) (vehicle)

(phrasal verb, intransitive: Verb with adverb(s) or preposition(s), having special meaning and not taking direct object--for example, "make up" [=reconcile]: "After they fought, they made up.")
Nos desviamos de la carretera principal para evitar el embotellamiento.
We turned off the main road to avoid the bottleneck.

stray, wander

verbo pronominal (salirse del tema)

(intransitive verb: Verb not taking a direct object--for example, "She jokes." "He has arrived.")
Se desvió del guión que le habían pasado y tuvo que improvisar.
He strayed (or: wandered) from the script that they had given him, and he had to improvise.

distract, divert

verbo transitivo (alejar de su objetivo)

(transitive verb: Verb taking a direct object--for example, "Say something." "She found the cat.")
Su nueva relación lo desvió de sus estudios.
His new relationship diverted (or: distracted) him from study.

divert funds, siphon funds

locución verbal (desviar dinero)

Se acusa al gobierno de desviar fondos a empresas privadas.
The government is accused of diverting funds to private companies.

divert attention

locución verbal (distraer)

María desvió la atención por un segundo.
ⓘEsta oración no es una traducción de la original. The clown diverted the attention of the spectators.

look away

locución verbal (mirar hacia otro lado)

(phrasal verb, intransitive: Verb with adverb(s) or preposition(s), having special meaning and not taking direct object--for example, "make up" [=reconcile]: "After they fought, they made up.")
Verónica desvió la mirada cuando la llamé.
Veronica looked away when I called her.

forward a phone call, forward a call

locución verbal (redirigir una llamada)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
La secretaria desvió una llamada para el jefe.
The secretary forwarded a phone call for the boss.

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Do you know about Spanish

Spanish (español), also known as Castilla, is a language of the Iberian-Romance group of the Romance languages, and the 4th most common language in the world according to Some sources, while others list it as a 2nd or 3rd most common language. It is the mother tongue of about 352 million people, and is spoken by 417 million people when adding its speakers as a language. sub (estimated in 1999). Spanish and Portuguese have very similar grammar and vocabulary; The number of similar vocabulary of these two languages is up to 89%. Spanish is the primary language of 20 countries around the world. It is estimated that the total number of speakers of Spanish is between 470 and 500 million, making it the second most widely spoken language in the world by number of native speakers.