digress

di·gress

verb \dī-ˈgres, də-\

Definition of DIGRESS

intransitive verb

: to turn aside especially from the main subject of attention or course of argument

Examples of DIGRESS

1. He digressed so often that it was hard to follow what he was saying.
2. If I can digress for a moment, I'd like to briefly mention her earlier films.
3. The third visit, the first one after I started the drugs, is shorter, more perfunctory than the first two. Papakostas moves briskly from one question to the next and looks at his watch if we digress. —Gary Greenberg, Harper's, May 2007
4. Coleridge, of course, who happily called himself a … lover of parentheses, does not bridle himself, but merely produces digressions about how he should not digress. —James Wood, New Republic, 6 Sept. 1999
5. He had not written too much per se; he had digressed intolerably given the significance of the events under consideration. —Alain de Botton How Proust Can Change Your Life, 1997

Origin of DIGRESS

Latin digressus, past participle of digredi, from dis- + gradi to step — more at grade

First Known Use: 1529

Rhymes with DIGRESS

abscess, access, address, aggress, assess, bench-press, caress, clothespress, coatdress, cold-press, compress, confess, cross-dress, CS, depress, de-stress, distress, drill press, egress, excess, express, finesse, fluoresce, French press, full-dress, handpress, headdress, housedress, idlesse, impress, ingress, Meknes, much less, nightdress, noblesse, no less, obsess, oppress, outguess, possess, precess, prestress, princess, process, profess, progress, recess, redress, regress, re-press, repress, shirtdress, side-dress, SS, success, sundress, suppress, tendresse, top-dress, transgress, undress, unless, web press, winepress, word stress