as in tangents
a departure from the subject under consideration
as an aside, something similar happened to me years ago
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Recent Examples of asides
Their conversation would often go off the rails thanks to humous asides and stories.
—
Zack Sharf, Variety, 10 Mar. 2026
With not a lot of airtime to transition her protagonist from reasonable to out of touch with reality, Jonas relegated much of her character’s contemplative qualities to the asides and exaggerated her more base characteristics by adding in some reckless behavior.
—Elaina Patton, IndieWire, 6 Mar. 2026
Once Ida is revived, Buckley is rife with tics and guttural asides, switching between rat-a-tat mobster slang and Shelley’s flowery English prose like some postmodern literary Gollum.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 6 Mar. 2026
Aside from his messages of unity and urging people watching at home to never second-guess themselves, Bad Bunny also shared other asides in Spanish throughout the halftime show.
—Pamela Avila, USA Today, 10 Feb. 2026
Trump’s asides generate more media attention than his defense of his economic record.
—W. James Antle Iii, The Washington Examiner, 6 Feb. 2026
Like so many of Tina Fey and Robert Carlock‘s comedies, including 30 Rock, The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins doesn’t start with full confidence in its overall voice or characters, settling to get most of its laughs from familiar cutaways and asides.
—Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 18 Jan. 2026
The president tried to drive that home on Tuesday, but only amid lengthy asides.
—Fortune, 14 Jan. 2026
Twichell has written often about her practice of Zen Buddhism, and one of her rare asides, offered after a particularly sad poem, had the feeling of ancient wisdom.
—Vinson Cunningham, New Yorker, 25 Dec. 2025
Zack Sharf, Variety, 10 Mar. 2026
With not a lot of airtime to transition her protagonist from reasonable to out of touch with reality, Jonas relegated much of her character’s contemplative qualities to the asides and exaggerated her more base characteristics by adding in some reckless behavior.
—Elaina Patton, IndieWire, 6 Mar. 2026
Once Ida is revived, Buckley is rife with tics and guttural asides, switching between rat-a-tat mobster slang and Shelley’s flowery English prose like some postmodern literary Gollum.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 6 Mar. 2026
Aside from his messages of unity and urging people watching at home to never second-guess themselves, Bad Bunny also shared other asides in Spanish throughout the halftime show.
—Pamela Avila, USA Today, 10 Feb. 2026
Trump’s asides generate more media attention than his defense of his economic record.
—W. James Antle Iii, The Washington Examiner, 6 Feb. 2026
Like so many of Tina Fey and Robert Carlock‘s comedies, including 30 Rock, The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins doesn’t start with full confidence in its overall voice or characters, settling to get most of its laughs from familiar cutaways and asides.
—Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 18 Jan. 2026
The president tried to drive that home on Tuesday, but only amid lengthy asides.
—Fortune, 14 Jan. 2026
Twichell has written often about her practice of Zen Buddhism, and one of her rare asides, offered after a particularly sad poem, had the feeling of ancient wisdom.
—Vinson Cunningham, New Yorker, 25 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for asides
Noun
-
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,
ABC News,
17 Mar. 2026
Noun
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One of Scarpetta’s digressions in particular is damaging to the show’s fortunes.—
Graham Hillard,
The Washington Examiner,
20 Mar. 2026
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The core of this book, stripping away the weird digressions, is about how society makes monsters.—
Paula L. Woods,
Los Angeles Times,
19 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Asides.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/asides. Accessed 23 Mar. 2026.
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