as in tangent
a departure from the subject under consideration
the professor's frequent and extended digressions are the stuff of campus legend
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Recent Examples of digression
Whatever your feelings about Tarantino, give the Oscar winner this: His genre subversions and outrageous digressions are far livelier and more inspired than anything Ritchie concocts here.
—
Will Leitch, Vulture, 27 May 2025
There are a handful of digressions in the category of local color, such as a francophone farmer who cooks haute cuisine and a bounty hunter nicknamed Preacher, who adorns his violent assaults with Bible verses.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 20 May 2025
To add to the information overload, there are flashbacks, self-aware references to classic whodunits, digressions into White House lore presumably mined from Kate Andersen Brower’s book The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House, which inspired the show.
—Judy Berman, TIME, 20 Mar. 2025
That’s just one of many tangential critiques the director lobs at Brazilian society in a movie that might have clocked in well under two hours without such digressions.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 18 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for digression
Will Leitch, Vulture, 27 May 2025
There are a handful of digressions in the category of local color, such as a francophone farmer who cooks haute cuisine and a bounty hunter nicknamed Preacher, who adorns his violent assaults with Bible verses.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 20 May 2025
To add to the information overload, there are flashbacks, self-aware references to classic whodunits, digressions into White House lore presumably mined from Kate Andersen Brower’s book The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House, which inspired the show.
—Judy Berman, TIME, 20 Mar. 2025
That’s just one of many tangential critiques the director lobs at Brazilian society in a movie that might have clocked in well under two hours without such digressions.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 18 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for digression
Recent Examples of Synonyms for digression
tangent
Noun
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Avoid tangents, overly complex presentations or cluttered visuals that overwhelm participants.—
Jason Richmond,
Forbes.com,
17 June 2025
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But its event this year seemed tighter than usual, with fewer of the athletes that regularly participate going off on verbal tangents or taking up time for humorous asides.—
Brian Steinberg,
Variety,
13 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Digression.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/digression. Accessed 13 Jul. 2025.
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