divagation

1 a departure from the subject under consideration <this may well appear to be a divagation at first, but I hope to establish the relevance> Synonyms aside, digression, tangent, excursionRelated Words excursus, parenthesis; rambling; circuitousness, circularity, circumlocution, diffuseness, prolixity, verbosity, windiness, wordiness

2 a turning away from a course or standard <a self-consciously “literary” novel that represents a major divagation from traditional narrative> Synonyms deflection, departure, detour, deviation, divergence, divergency, diversionRelated Words regression, retrogression, reversionNear Antonyms adherence