as in rambling
passing from one topic to another
a digressive lecture on current events around the world
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Recent Examples of digressive
The Friend’s House Is Here, with its relaxed pace and digressive sequences of late-night dinner parties, feels like a minor Godard hangout movie.
—
Taylor Antrim, Vogue, 30 Jan. 2026
This is slightly digressive, but Tunde and his lover, early on in the novel, have this big argument in Lahaina, in Hawaii.
—Literary Hub, 3 Nov. 2025
The path to achieving this goal was already a digressive one, weaving together singing competitions, cloned dogs and a bald-capped Fielder breastfeeding from a giant puppet.
—Alison Herman, Variety, 26 May 2025
The tabloid reader commuting home on the No. 4 train was given the same all-access pass to his protean intellect and lyrical, digressive sentences as the Park Avenue neighbor of William F. Buckley’s reading him, fireside, in the more rarefied outlets.
—Ginia Bellafante, New York Times, 16 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for digressive
Taylor Antrim, Vogue, 30 Jan. 2026
This is slightly digressive, but Tunde and his lover, early on in the novel, have this big argument in Lahaina, in Hawaii.
—Literary Hub, 3 Nov. 2025
The path to achieving this goal was already a digressive one, weaving together singing competitions, cloned dogs and a bald-capped Fielder breastfeeding from a giant puppet.
—Alison Herman, Variety, 26 May 2025
The tabloid reader commuting home on the No. 4 train was given the same all-access pass to his protean intellect and lyrical, digressive sentences as the Park Avenue neighbor of William F. Buckley’s reading him, fireside, in the more rarefied outlets.
—Ginia Bellafante, New York Times, 16 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for digressive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for digressive
Adjective
-
The North Carolina folk-rock band’s quiet and rambling third album exists in a cloud of dreamy contemplation.—
Jayson Greene,
Pitchfork,
1 Apr. 2026
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Trump’s speech was at times entertaining, rambling, repetitive, and combative.—
Matthew Martin,
semafor.com,
30 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
The temporary and discursive structure allowed global visibility without institutional permanence.—
Daniel Birnbaum,
Artforum,
2 Apr. 2026
-
Real Man Adventures isn’t broken up into chapter-length sections of narrative, but rather brief, discursive essays.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
12 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Digressive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/digressive. Accessed 21 Apr. 2026.
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