as in aside
a departure from the subject under consideration
in the middle of her description of her dog's symptoms, she went off on a tangent about its cute behavior
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
as in tangential
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of tangent
Anatola Araba, ELLE, 1 Sep. 2022
An early tangent veers into naval warfare, with various forces fighting for crucial shipping lanes.
—Darren Franich, EW.com, 19 Aug. 2022
Brian Steinberg, Variety, 13 May 2025
KickStarter Back on tangent: The EufyMake E1 isn't just about slapping some color onto a surface.
—Joe Salas
may 10, New Atlas, 10 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for tangent
Noun
This imaginary friend guides him through the tangent universe, encourages him to commit a series of crimes, and ends up triggering a chain of supernatural events.
—Anatola Araba, ELLE, 1 Sep. 2022
An early tangent veers into naval warfare, with various forces fighting for crucial shipping lanes.
—Darren Franich, EW.com, 19 Aug. 2022
Adjective
But its event this year seemed tighter than usual, with fewer of the athletes that regularly participate going off on verbal tangents or taking up time for humorous asides.
—Brian Steinberg, Variety, 13 May 2025
KickStarter Back on tangent: The EufyMake E1 isn't just about slapping some color onto a surface.
—Joe Salas
may 10, New Atlas, 10 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for tangent
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tangent
Noun
-
Price: Free Story Club by George Saunders The No. 1 Substack in the literature category and one of the best newsletters about the craft of writing, with short-story analysis and personal asides.—
Emma Alpern,
Vulture,
2 July 2025
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As an aside, what few parties have tried is building a hyper-local newsroom on a shoestring budget, tying it to a mobile phone app, and charging subscribers very low prices for getting all the tea about what’s happening in their neighborhoods.—
John Werner,
Forbes.com,
3 July 2025
Adjective
-
The music felt almost secondary to apocryphal stories tangential to the music.—
Daniel Fienberg,
HollywoodReporter,
22 July 2025
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Kaiser said if allowed to stand, the ruling will have the effect of making arson of property belonging to any entity receiving federal funding, regardless of how tangential the connection, a federal crime.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
21 July 2025
Noun
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The streaming economy, however, has stretched the narrative timeline, elongated the arc, padding out a predetermined number of episodes with extraneous digressions, giving minor characters things to do that don’t necessarily contribute to the story, while not developing into much on their own.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
10 July 2025
-
The duo soon reveal their exceptional digressions from type.—
Michael Barnes,
Austin American Statesman,
2 July 2025
Adjective
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The term also reflects what psychologists call peripheral group membership—being part of a group but not central to it.—
Lydia Patrick,
MSNBC Newsweek,
21 July 2025
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The cardinal symptom of peripheral artery disease is claudication.—
Colleen Doherty,
Verywell Health,
20 July 2025
Adjective
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The majority said the law's burden on adults is incidental because adults have no First Amendment right to avoid age verification.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
27 June 2025
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American Express relies on airlines to submit the correct information on airline transactions to identify incidental fee purchases.—
Ryley Amond,
CNBC,
24 June 2025
Adjective
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The rise of e-commerce, particularly Amazon, led to widespread belief that traditional big-box retailers would become irrelevant dinosaurs.—
Robert Daugherty,
Forbes.com,
16 July 2025
-
The judge ruled that evolution’s validity was irrelevant.—
Ron Grossman,
Chicago Tribune,
13 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Tangent.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tangent. Accessed 29 Jul. 2025.
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