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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of tangent
Aja Romano, Vox, 7 Feb. 2025
The two held awkward discussions about history and science, with Chalamet getting an opportunity to show off his fluent French, while also going on pff-topic tangents about a woman named Trish.
—Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 25 Jan. 2025
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
See All Example Sentences for tangent
Noun
Throughout the interview, Ye made provocative insinuations about Jews and money and went on unprovoked tangents.
—Aja Romano, Vox, 7 Feb. 2025
The two held awkward discussions about history and science, with Chalamet getting an opportunity to show off his fluent French, while also going on pff-topic tangents about a woman named Trish.
—Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 25 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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
See All Example Sentences for tangent
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tangent
Noun
-
There’s no backstory here of how this version of the city came to be, except in personal asides.—
Amy Nicholson,
Los Angeles Times,
13 Feb. 2025
-
Sometimes, his wisecracks and confessional asides come as a direct address.—
Lisa Kennedy,
The Denver Post,
7 Feb. 2025
Adjective
-
Much like Kiryu's spy caper, Pirate Yakuza takes what would be tangential in the main series — a whacky combat arena — and centers a plot around it.—
James Perkins Mastromarino,
NPR,
14 Mar. 2025
-
On the page, a sequence in which Zoe and Kathryn have a testy session might read as tangential, even if the dialogue sings.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
12 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
Outside of his core group of devotees, audiences didn’t know what to make of its trippy horror, absurdist humor and often frustrating digressions.—
Glenn Whipp,
Los Angeles Times,
16 Jan. 2025
-
Organizational and systems theories suggest that introducing an organizing entity into a competitive environment can minimize digression, maximize synergy, and optimize performance—provided common goals and shared values exist.—
Luis E. Romero,
Forbes,
23 Jan. 2025
Adjective
-
These are used in the Meta Quest 3, and provide far better sharpness in the wearer’s peripheral vision than is possible with the fresnel lenses of headsets like the Quest 2 and PSVR 2.—
Andrew Williams,
Forbes,
21 Mar. 2025
-
Reynolds' lawyers now say his involvement in the scandal was merely peripheral.—
Anna Kaufman,
USA TODAY,
19 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
Both seem incidental to his 47% Hard Hits for the past five years.—
Gene McCaffrey,
The Athletic,
11 Mar. 2025
-
Anyone finding themselves attracted to him was otherwise incidental.—
Fran Hoepfner,
Vulture,
7 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
The weather’s getting warmer in Montreal, playoff weather, a time of year this group is used to looking for external, irrelevant sources of motivation to play out the string.—
Arpon Basu,
The Athletic,
16 Mar. 2025
-
Too long to weed through red herrings and convolutions in the mystery that eventually border on irrelevant.—
Daniel Fienberg,
The Hollywood Reporter,
12 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Tangent.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tangent. Accessed 31 Mar. 2025.
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