as in tangent
a departure from the subject under consideration
the professor's frequent and extended digressions are the stuff of campus legend
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
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
In conversation, Lee is grizzled and gregarious, quick to cackle, and prone to starry-eyed digressions about music’s overwhelming power and his partner’s formidable songwriting chops.
—
Elias Leight, Billboard, 1 May 2025
All the digressions and discombobulations, and the need to flesh out so many angles of the Stacy/Aislin dynamic, impact the directness some of the play’s key messages about mortality, community and communication.
—Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 13 June 2025
The author also varies the texture of the book by inserting poems, quotations, dramatic dialogue, a veiled account of her unhappy days at boarding school, and a lengthy digression on the German mystic Friederike Hauffe, who claimed to be clairvoyant and to communicate with spirits.
—James Marcus, New Yorker, 2 June 2025
Whatever your feelings about Tarantino, give the Oscar winner this: His genre subversions and outrageous digressions are far livelier and more inspired than anything Ritchie concocts here.
—Will Leitch, Vulture, 27 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for digression
Elias Leight, Billboard, 1 May 2025
All the digressions and discombobulations, and the need to flesh out so many angles of the Stacy/Aislin dynamic, impact the directness some of the play’s key messages about mortality, community and communication.
—Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 13 June 2025
The author also varies the texture of the book by inserting poems, quotations, dramatic dialogue, a veiled account of her unhappy days at boarding school, and a lengthy digression on the German mystic Friederike Hauffe, who claimed to be clairvoyant and to communicate with spirits.
—James Marcus, New Yorker, 2 June 2025
Whatever your feelings about Tarantino, give the Oscar winner this: His genre subversions and outrageous digressions are far livelier and more inspired than anything Ritchie concocts here.
—Will Leitch, Vulture, 27 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for digression
Recent Examples of Synonyms for digression
tangent
Noun
-
Information, as a result, becomes abstracted into tangents.—
Shirley Li,
The Atlantic,
18 July 2025
-
For nearly an hour, Trump rambled about multiple topics his administration has tackled so far, ranging from tariffs to transgender people in sports while veering into tangents about his previous legal battles and first administration.—
Lalee Ibssa,
ABC News,
14 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Digression.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/digression. Accessed 30 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share