as in aside
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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
as in tangential
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of tangent
Jessica Riskin, The New York Review of Books, 3 Apr. 2025
Almost miraculously, a circle emerges from countless tangents.
—Jonathon Keats, Forbes.com, 28 Mar. 2025
Anatola Araba, ELLE, 1 Sep. 2022
An early tangent veers into naval warfare, with various forces fighting for crucial shipping lanes.
—Darren Franich, EW.com, 19 Aug. 2022
See All Example Sentences for tangent
Noun
Unfortunately, things go poorly—her mind meanders on tangents, thoughts fail to coalesce, words elude her.
—Jessica Riskin, The New York Review of Books, 3 Apr. 2025
Almost miraculously, a circle emerges from countless tangents.
—Jonathon Keats, Forbes.com, 28 Mar. 2025
Adjective
This imaginary friend guides him through the tangent universe, encourages him to commit a series of crimes, and ends up triggering a chain of supernatural events.
—Anatola Araba, ELLE, 1 Sep. 2022
An early tangent veers into naval warfare, with various forces fighting for crucial shipping lanes.
—Darren Franich, EW.com, 19 Aug. 2022
See All Example Sentences for tangent
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tangent
Noun
-
These asides prevent The Last of Us from delving into Ellie’s larger emotional journey of having to rediscover her humanity while she’s overwhelmed by her grief.—
Shirley Li,
The Atlantic,
21 Apr. 2025
-
There was some talk among Trump allies that Musk’s media appearances may be curbed after an aside about the need to address waste in Social Security became fodder for Democrats who viewed it as an attack on the program.—
Brett Samuels,
The Hill,
26 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
Indeed, Buchwald won; the suit was famous in Hollywood circles regarding a tangential issue, namely laying bare the industry accounting practices that kept even wildly successful films from ever making a profit on paper.—
Bill Wyman,
Vulture,
28 Feb. 2025
-
Much like Kiryu's spy caper, Pirate Yakuza takes what would be tangential in the main series — a whacky combat arena — and centers a plot around it.—
James Perkins Mastromarino,
NPR,
14 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
Trump’s digressions in his speeches could be laughed away in his first term.—
Susan B. Glasser,
New Yorker,
10 Apr. 2025
-
The metafictional form of the book and its digressions on the nature of novel writing itself are deliberately off-putting and call into question the narrative’s truthfulness.—
Bartolomeo Sala,
The Dial,
27 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
At the same time, the charger still maintains its role as a peripheral device that acts as a Bluetooth keyboard that approves the file access consent dialog.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
28 Apr. 2025
-
But with some key players almost certain to leave and other more peripheral figures needing moves, a bigger turnover than Pereira might ideally want looks likely.—
Steve Madeley,
New York Times,
25 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
Potentially 40% of autopsies can reveal additional information beyond testing conducted in life, though not all of these will be incidental.—
Lauren B. Solberg,
Sun Sentinel,
6 May 2025
-
Within the emerging framework, a government at war could claim that starving enemy combatants remained legal and that as a result, incidental civilian deaths were tragic but nearly unavoidable outcomes of a legitimate method of modern warfare against totalitarian enemies.—
Boyd van Dijk,
Foreign Affairs,
30 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
This is pretty much your standard-issue focus-group scene, with dopey viewers idiotically nitpicking irrelevant details.—
Jessica M. Goldstein,
Vulture,
2 May 2025
-
And Colorado was about as irrelevant as any power-conference program in the country by the end of the 2022 season.—
Stewart Mandel,
New York Times,
30 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Tangent.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tangent. Accessed 11 May. 2025.
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