as in irrelevant
having little to do with the matter at hand
Your point is tangential to the main objective of this meeting so please save it for later.
Related Words
Relevance
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of tangential
His absence is especially noteworthy because of the tangential effect his acquisition had on Jones and the direction of the franchise.
—
James Boyd, New York Times, 8 Dec. 2025
Lasky also integrates tangential but no-less-compelling topics, like the show-stopping style of Iris Apfel and her influence on Lasky’s mother, and Lasky’s evergreen obsession with The Shining.
—Diana Arterian, Literary Hub, 6 Nov. 2025
The feds ought to focus on providing help, not advance their tangential cultural agendas.
—Steven Greenhut, Oc Register, 24 Oct. 2025
Florida teachers are facing investigations for social media posts deemed insensitive after Charlie Kirk’s death — scrutiny that the state’s teachers union says targets even tangential or indirect comments.
—Miami Herald, 14 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tangential
James Boyd, New York Times, 8 Dec. 2025
Lasky also integrates tangential but no-less-compelling topics, like the show-stopping style of Iris Apfel and her influence on Lasky’s mother, and Lasky’s evergreen obsession with The Shining.
—Diana Arterian, Literary Hub, 6 Nov. 2025
The feds ought to focus on providing help, not advance their tangential cultural agendas.
—Steven Greenhut, Oc Register, 24 Oct. 2025
Florida teachers are facing investigations for social media posts deemed insensitive after Charlie Kirk’s death — scrutiny that the state’s teachers union says targets even tangential or indirect comments.
—Miami Herald, 14 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tangential
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tangential
Adjective
-
Sure, pundits and Twitter philosophers love to portray bowl games as irrelevant relics of the past that nobody cares about anymore.—
Mike Bianchi,
The Orlando Sentinel,
8 Jan. 2026
-
The characters are lying, to themselves and to each other, but the role of the audience in believing or not believing their lies is totally irrelevant.—
Daniel Fienberg,
HollywoodReporter,
8 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
That means mathematicians can approximate these rotations with a straight line that touches the circle at just one point — a tangent line.—
Leila Sloman,
Quanta Magazine,
3 Dec. 2025
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The slope, or steepness, of the tangent line measures how quickly the function is changing at that point.—
Solomon Adams,
WIRED,
23 Feb. 2025
Adjective
-
Unmanned systems — once peripheral assets — are becoming central to both offensive and defensive strategies.—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
9 Jan. 2026
-
Ideally, Middle and East Caicos would be permitted to retain their peripheral character, Parrish said.—
Henry Wismayer,
Travel + Leisure,
7 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Tangential.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tangential. Accessed 15 Jan. 2026.
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