digression

as in tangent
a departure from the subject under consideration the professor's frequent and extended digressions are the stuff of campus legend

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of digression Told in a fragmentary narrative filled with digression (and interjections from the author), Khoury’s novel tackles themes of identity and oppression that are incredibly relevant today. Nate Zipp, Christian Science Monitor, 1 May 2025 An odd digression into the origins of Mormonism recalls the specious race-and-crime history in Killers of the Flower Moon, which gave us DeNiro’s most repulsive characterization to date, a portrait as revealing as Dorian Gray’s. Armond White, National Review, 21 Mar. 2025 Alvarado and José Ostos did the cinematography, and their keen sense of light, color, and tempo invests Adela’s tender observations and enigmatic digressions with drama and passion. Richard Brody, New Yorker, 28 Mar. 2025 Spread across a larger ensemble, with more side alleys and self-amusing authorial digressions, The Barbarians is more diffuse. Sara Holdren, Vulture, 23 Feb. 2025 See All Example Sentences for digression
Recent Examples of Synonyms for digression
tangent
Noun
  • Critics, however, often take issue with unusual, and sometimes bizarre, tangents during public remarks.
    Jason Lemon, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 May 2025
  • The tangent the scene takes disrupts our perception of this particular location as it’s been established throughout the prior 50 minutes or so.
    Josh Slater-Williams, IndieWire, 15 May 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Digression.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/digression. Accessed 10 Jun. 2025.

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