as in tangents
a departure from the subject under consideration
the professor's frequent and extended digressions are the stuff of campus legend
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Recent Examples of digressions
One of Scarpetta’s digressions in particular is damaging to the show’s fortunes.
—
Graham Hillard, The Washington Examiner, 20 Mar. 2026
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
Gender, above all, determines how life is supposed to proceed, from cradle to grave; one of her longest digressions is an overview of the different ways that, to her mind, men and women are supposed to die.
—Isle McElroy, The Atlantic, 16 Mar. 2026
The play is stacked with laugh lines and Greenberg’s deliciously writerly digressions.
—Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune, 10 Feb. 2026
The plot takes quite a few wild digressions on our heroes’ way to meeting Hamm (who also gives an excellent performance as himself).
—Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 26 Jan. 2026
The conversation has been necessarily condensed for clarity and to take out vast numbers of further digressions.
—Literary Hub, 6 Jan. 2026
But in the small areas of freedom McAvoy allows himself outside the main thrust of the familiar rags-to-riches-to-regret arc there are sharp little digressions and darker shadowy corners that suggest there’s more to the film, and to McAvoy as a filmmaker, than initially meets the eye.
—Jessica Kiang, Variety, 4 Oct. 2025
There's no explicit in-game reward for almost all of these random digressions, and your fellow cut-scene hikers will frequently explicitly warn you that there's no point in climbing some structure or another.
—ArsTechnica, 23 Sep. 2025
Graham Hillard, The Washington Examiner, 20 Mar. 2026
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
Gender, above all, determines how life is supposed to proceed, from cradle to grave; one of her longest digressions is an overview of the different ways that, to her mind, men and women are supposed to die.
—Isle McElroy, The Atlantic, 16 Mar. 2026
The play is stacked with laugh lines and Greenberg’s deliciously writerly digressions.
—Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune, 10 Feb. 2026
The plot takes quite a few wild digressions on our heroes’ way to meeting Hamm (who also gives an excellent performance as himself).
—Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 26 Jan. 2026
The conversation has been necessarily condensed for clarity and to take out vast numbers of further digressions.
—Literary Hub, 6 Jan. 2026
But in the small areas of freedom McAvoy allows himself outside the main thrust of the familiar rags-to-riches-to-regret arc there are sharp little digressions and darker shadowy corners that suggest there’s more to the film, and to McAvoy as a filmmaker, than initially meets the eye.
—Jessica Kiang, Variety, 4 Oct. 2025
There's no explicit in-game reward for almost all of these random digressions, and your fellow cut-scene hikers will frequently explicitly warn you that there's no point in climbing some structure or another.
—ArsTechnica, 23 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for digressions
tangents
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
Cite this Entry
“Digressions.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/digressions. Accessed 3 Apr. 2026.
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