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.
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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 tangential
And, right now, any company with even a tangential connection to climate and energy is feeling a good deal of uncertainty.
—
Justin Worland, TIME, 7 Feb. 2025
Their company — which also provides curbside recycling pickup services in San Jose — played a tangential role in the 2006 indictment of San Jose’s then-mayor, Ron Gonzales, on bribery charges.
—Nate Gartrell, The Mercury News, 16 Jan. 2025
There are implications that the two central fathers of the piece have clashed before, though the more jarring examples of tangential threads concern a performing troupe with whom Tornado has a pre-existing relationship.
—Josh Slater-Williams, IndieWire, 26 Feb. 2025
Is that a fair, if perhaps tangential, limning of this sinister quality that your poems sometimes have?
—Corey Seymour, Vogue, 6 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tangential
Justin Worland, TIME, 7 Feb. 2025
Their company — which also provides curbside recycling pickup services in San Jose — played a tangential role in the 2006 indictment of San Jose’s then-mayor, Ron Gonzales, on bribery charges.
—Nate Gartrell, The Mercury News, 16 Jan. 2025
There are implications that the two central fathers of the piece have clashed before, though the more jarring examples of tangential threads concern a performing troupe with whom Tornado has a pre-existing relationship.
—Josh Slater-Williams, IndieWire, 26 Feb. 2025
Is that a fair, if perhaps tangential, limning of this sinister quality that your poems sometimes have?
—Corey Seymour, Vogue, 6 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tangential
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tangential
Adjective
-
This is pretty much your standard-issue focus-group scene, with dopey viewers idiotically nitpicking irrelevant details.—
Jessica M. Goldstein,
Vulture,
2 May 2025
-
By 1917 in Russia, housewives were marching in city streets to protest a lack of food, peasants were seizing land, and many Russians saw the czarist government as irrelevant, even treasonous.—
Margaret MacMillan,
The Atlantic,
30 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
The slope, or steepness, of the tangent line measures how quickly the function is changing at that point.—
Solomon Adams,
WIRED,
23 Feb. 2025
-
By 1643, René Descartes had discovered a simple relationship between the curvatures of any four circles that are tangent to each other.—
Quanta Magazine,
Quanta Magazine,
10 Aug. 2023
Adjective
-
Despite trillions of dollars at stake, forest destruction—and the corporate role in driving it—is still widely treated as a peripheral issue.—
Felicia Jackson,
Forbes.com,
8 May 2025
-
But after a playoff contender over in the American League suffered a brutal injury setback, the Mets could be looking to offload some of their peripheral talent.—
Peter Chawaga,
MSNBC Newsweek,
4 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Tangential.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tangential. Accessed 21 May. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share