as in asides
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
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of tangents
Her words prove true throughout his interview, during which Glover opens up for the first time about his life with Alzheimer's disease, often toggling between unfinished thoughts and poetic personal tangents.
—
Janine Rubenstein,
PEOPLE,
1 July 2026
Patients call from noisy environments, talk over the system, go on tangents and don't finish sentences.
—
Saran Siva,
Forbes.com,
30 June 2026
In conversation, Friedland is rapaciously curious, if slightly disorganized, prone to tangents that lead to a candidness that can verge on cringe or awkward.
—
Jeff Ihaza,
Rolling Stone,
29 June 2026
June 21 – July 22 Wandering down conversational tangents will be especially tempting today.
—
Tarot.com,
New York Daily News,
31 Mar. 2026
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
The Story Behind Gomez’s AirDrop Name In one of the episode’s more amusing tangents, Gomez shared the story behind her iPhone’s AirDrop name.
—
Ryan Brennan,
Miami Herald,
5 Mar. 2026
But Streisand apparently couldn’t help herself, going off on some tangents in her post that left some respondents amused but others thinking that the entertainment legend was living up to her reputation for being self-obsessed.
—
Martha Ross,
Mercury News,
26 Feb. 2026
Janine Rubenstein,
PEOPLE,
1 July 2026
Patients call from noisy environments, talk over the system, go on tangents and don't finish sentences.
—
Saran Siva,
Forbes.com,
30 June 2026
In conversation, Friedland is rapaciously curious, if slightly disorganized, prone to tangents that lead to a candidness that can verge on cringe or awkward.
—
Jeff Ihaza,
Rolling Stone,
29 June 2026
June 21 – July 22 Wandering down conversational tangents will be especially tempting today.
—
Tarot.com,
New York Daily News,
31 Mar. 2026
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
The Story Behind Gomez’s AirDrop Name In one of the episode’s more amusing tangents, Gomez shared the story behind her iPhone’s AirDrop name.
—
Ryan Brennan,
Miami Herald,
5 Mar. 2026
But Streisand apparently couldn’t help herself, going off on some tangents in her post that left some respondents amused but others thinking that the entertainment legend was living up to her reputation for being self-obsessed.
—
Martha Ross,
Mercury News,
26 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tangents
Noun
-
There are frequent funny asides and philosophical musings.
-
The rapper leaned into the role’s humor, adding playful asides and earning laughs from the crowd.
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.
Cite this Entry
“Tangents.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tangents. Accessed 4 Jul. 2026.
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