as in aside
a departure from the subject under consideration
in the middle of her description of her dog's symptoms, she went off on a tangent about its cute behavior
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
as in tangential
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of tangent
Nicole Winfield The Associated Press,
Arkansas Online,
18 Mar. 2026
The original investigation spawned two main tangents involving Becciu, once a leading Vatican cardinal and future papal contender.
—
ABC News,
17 Mar. 2026
Darren Franich,
EW.com,
19 Aug. 2022
Austin’s former president then went on a tangent talking about Reese’s eggs, Cap’n Crunch and berries.
—
Frank Pallotta,
CNN,
17 Apr. 2022
See All Example Sentences for tangent
Noun
The original investigation spawned two main tangents involving Becciu, once a leading Vatican cardinal and future papal contender.
—
Nicole Winfield The Associated Press,
Arkansas Online,
18 Mar. 2026
The original investigation spawned two main tangents involving Becciu, once a leading Vatican cardinal and future papal contender.
—
ABC News,
17 Mar. 2026
Adjective
An early tangent veers into naval warfare, with various forces fighting for crucial shipping lanes.
—
Darren Franich,
EW.com,
19 Aug. 2022
Austin’s former president then went on a tangent talking about Reese’s eggs, Cap’n Crunch and berries.
—
Frank Pallotta,
CNN,
17 Apr. 2022
See All Example Sentences for tangent
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tangent
Noun
-
When the meeting proceeded into discussions about audits, Levine approached Hosseini for a brief pull-aside conversation.
-
For a company synonymous with AI, the most revealing line was almost an aside.
Adjective
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There is significant worry about the status of Christian Pulisic’s calf, and there’s also a bit of tangential drama here for the Australians.
-
But Sawyer held off on adding the amendment to House Bill 1094, a tangential bill requiring an audit of NCDOT’s ferry division.
Noun
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With its loose ends and digressions, Dream Me a Dream stays true to those idiosyncratic instincts while retaining enough of the welcoming glow of Dance of Love to make this an affecting farewell from an endearing eccentric.
-
Reading Dyer at exactly that moment gave me permission to loosen my grip a little and allow my own digressions into the work.
Adjective
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Ciba treats them not as sweet peripheral matter, but as records of reading under pressure.
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The frontline team member, the mid-level manager navigating competing priorities, the customer-facing employee absorbing feedback in real time—these people are not peripheral to your strategy.
Adjective
-
Adams offered two incidental new piano pieces and one for string quartet containing his characteristic rhythmic excitement and melodic eloquence.
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Too much time is devoted to elevating one-note supporting characters and their incidental solo missions, and too little time is given to the star attraction, the man from outer space, the guy with a face worthy of comparing to the Mona Lisa.
Adjective
-
To me that’s irrelevant in terms of this storytelling.
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Whether the governmental entity later does anything with the complaint (here, the Board did not) is irrelevant.
Cite this Entry
“Tangent.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tangent. Accessed 27 Jun. 2026.
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