tangential

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adjective tan·gen·tial \tan-ˈjen(t)-shəl\

Definition of tangential

1a : touching lightly : incidental, peripheral tangential involvement; also : of little relevance arguments tangential to the main pointb : divergent, digressive
2 : of, relating to, or of the nature of a tangent
3 : acting along or lying in a tangent tangential forces

tangentially

play \-ˈjen(t)-sh(ə-)lē\ adverb

See tangential defined for English-language learners

Examples of tangential in a Sentence

Their romance is tangential to the book's main plot.

Recent Examples of tangential from the Web

All that, seemingly in order to provide some backing, however tangential, for Trump’s insistent belief that President Obama, or people working for him, had spied on him.

— david lauter, latimes.com, "Immunity deals, primary threats, and it's only Week 10", 31 Mar. 2017
Some of Yahoo’s divisions, such as its small-business services unit, have already been designated as tangential to the company’s principal business.

— vindu goel and leslie picker, New York Times, "Yahoo Takes a Step Toward a Possible Sale", 19 Feb. 2016
The sound of the band was in a way vaguely folksy, in another way vaguely country, slightly tangential to the sound of what came to be called alt-country, or Americana.

— bill wyman, The New Yorker, "An Obsessive Listen to a Twenty-Five-Year-Old Album", 4 Feb. 2016
Because Mad Men won't tell you anything that's tangential to the next leg of a character arc.

— matt patches, Esquire, "What Year Is It on Mad Men Now?", 5 Apr. 2015
Too tangential an angle could skip the module out into space forever.

— randy alfred, WIRED, "April 17, 1970: Houston, We No Longer Have a Problem", 17 Apr. 2008

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'tangential'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Tangential Has Mathematical Roots

In geometry, a tangent is a straight line that touches a curve at a single point. So we say that someone who starts talking about one thing and gets sidetracked has gone off on a tangent. The new subject is tangential to the first subject—it touches it and moves off in a different direction.