What's a good word for a lack of concentration?

Question

I'm looking for an adjective that describes not concentrated.
Something like "flying around", "not really here".

In hebrew it would've been מעופף.

Answer 1

The definitions are taken from the NOAD and OALD.

• Distracted adj. unable to concentrate because one's mind is preoccupied.
• Absent-minded adj. tending to forget things, perhaps because you are not thinking about what is around you, but about something else.
• Inattentive adj. not paying attention to something/somebody.

Answer 2

How about absent-minded?

Answer 3

I think a more simple word would go in this context and the right word to use (if you were to translate מעופף ) would be "daydreamer". You can say "He's such a daydreamer"

Answer 4

I can think of:

• daydreaming
• with his/her head in the clouds
• not focused [on the task]
• lost in his/her thoughts

Answer 5

spacey |ˈspeɪsi| (also spacy)
adjective (spacier |ˈspeɪsiər|, spaciest |ˈspeɪsi1st|) informal
out of touch with reality, as though high on drugs : I remember babbling, high and spacey.
• (of popular, esp. electronic music) drifting and ethereal.

^-NOAD

Answer 6

Without more context it won't be easy to help, but "loose" is a fairly catch-all term for things that are not condensed. If you mean "not concentrating," then "distracted," etc., as given by others.

Answer 7

Your original question is kind of mistaken. "Not concentrated" generally means "diffuse" or "diluted," but then in your explanation you don't mean "concentrated" in that sense. Concentrated almost always refers to the purity of some substance (especially a liquid) while you are talking about mental focus. In that case what you wanted to say is "not concentrating."

Answer 8

If the person is thinking of something else, or engrossed in an activity, we say He is preoccupied. If the person is engrossed in a memory, we say, She is a million miles away.