digressive

adjective

di·​gres·​sive dī-ˈgre-siv How to pronounce digressive (audio)
də-
: characterized by digressions
a digressive talk
digressively adverb
digressiveness noun

Examples of digressive in a Sentence

a digressive lecture on current events around the world
Recent Examples on the Web With a playful, digressive style, Moghaddam considers the layers of the hijab and the ways that a dress code both enables and disables self-expression. Akiva Gottlieb, Los Angeles Times, 19 Feb. 2024 But hang in there: Viewers who allow themselves to be taken on this wide-ranging, occasionally digressive journey will emerge not just edified but emotionally wrung out and, somehow, cleansed. Ann Hornaday, Washington Post, 17 Jan. 2024 There were notable practitioners in the generation before him (Patrick Leigh Fermor, Jan Morris, Norman Lewis, and Ryszard Kapuściński spring to mind), but Raban’s brilliantly digressive, sometimes confessional style—with its descriptive exactitude and sardonic undertow—signaled new possibilities. Colin Thubron, The New York Review of Books, 19 Jan. 2023 Rimawi, dressed in a monochrome gray outfit and slippers, is sharp and generous in his speech, delivering a blend of anecdotes, history, and rhetorical questions in a digressive cadence familiar to any Arab with a political uncle, which is to say, any Arab. Ismail Ibrahim, Curbed, 2 Nov. 2023 This early work had a digressive form, perhaps reflecting juxtaposed images in haiku. Christian Hertzog, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Aug. 2023 The four episodes of this final season provided to critics take steps toward what seems to be a definitive conclusion, but through a typically digressive route. Alison Herman, Variety, 1 Aug. 2023 People love her, adore her work and simply can’t get enough of her digressive awards speeches. Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Times, 16 June 2023 The narrator, erudite and engagingly digressive, likens the Lydis effort to Alexander Gilchrist’s biography of William Blake, and recounts the exploits of an apparently fictional medium named Rogelio Nori. Matthew Gavin Frank, Harper's Magazine, 21 Mar. 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'digressive.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1611, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of digressive was circa 1611

Dictionary Entries Near digressive

Cite this Entry

“Digressive.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/digressive. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

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