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
Elizabeth continues to be an infuriating character, interrupting with rude and unhelpful asides throughout the entire family meeting, casually gnawing on an orange slice as Greg and Katie have a heart-to-heart across the table.
—
Erin Qualey, Vulture, 11 May 2026
The Artemis crew is now in a lunar flyby, during which they're expected to see both the near and far asides of the moon and engage in intense lunar observation.
—CBS News, 6 Apr. 2026
The pace of observation is furious, and even simple plot points are crosshatched with micro-incidents, asides, and gestures that overflow the boundaries of a screenplay and spill out into life at large.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 27 Mar. 2026
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
Erin Qualey, Vulture, 11 May 2026
The Artemis crew is now in a lunar flyby, during which they're expected to see both the near and far asides of the moon and engage in intense lunar observation.
—CBS News, 6 Apr. 2026
The pace of observation is furious, and even simple plot points are crosshatched with micro-incidents, asides, and gestures that overflow the boundaries of a screenplay and spill out into life at large.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 27 Mar. 2026
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for asides
Noun
-
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
Noun
-
It is abridged, so there’s not nearly as many 90-page digressions or pseudoscientific cetology musings.—
Marah Eakin,
Vulture,
14 May 2026
-
The prose is hypnotic, all the more so for its many digressions and parentheses, unveiling tiny set pieces like so many Fabergé eggs.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
13 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Asides.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/asides. Accessed 21 May. 2026.
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