go off on a tangent
idiom
: to start talking about something that is only slightly or indirectly related to the original subject
She went off on a tangent about what happened to her last summer.
Examples of go off on a tangent in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Listen To The Consumer By not listening to customers and what the data shows, companies can potentially go off on a tangent.
—
Claire Stern, Forbes, 21 Feb. 2023
One of those trigger points was the subject of race in America, which saw Trump once again go off on a tangent that may have included a shot at Kim Kardashian West.
—Ineye Komonibo, refinery29.com, 25 Oct. 2020
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Claire Stern, Forbes, 21 Feb. 2023
One of those trigger points was the subject of race in America, which saw Trump once again go off on a tangent that may have included a shot at Kim Kardashian West.
—Ineye Komonibo, refinery29.com, 25 Oct. 2020
Cite this Entry
“Go off on a tangent.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/go%20off%20on%20a%20tangent. Accessed 21 May. 2025.
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