digress
verb
di·gress
| \ dī-ˈgres
, də-\
, də-\
digressed;
digressing;
digresses
Definition of digress
: to turn aside especially from the main subject of attention or course of argument
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Examples of digress in a Sentence
The third visit, the first one after I started the drugs, is shorter, more perfunctory than the first two. Papakostas moves briskly from one question to the next and looks at his watch if we digress.
— Gary Greenberg, Harper's, May 2007
Coleridge, of course, who happily called himself a … lover of parentheses, does not bridle himself, but merely produces digressions about how he should not digress.
— James Wood, New Republic, 6 Sept. 1999
He had not written too much per se; he had digressed intolerably given the significance of the events under consideration.
— Alain de Botton, How Proust Can Change Your Life, 1997
He digressed so often that it was hard to follow what he was saying.
If I can digress for a moment, I'd like to briefly mention her earlier films.
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Recent Examples on the Web
Fans need reason to move on from a historically bad 2018 and reason to digress from pondering a potentially murky future. — Mike Anthony, courant.com, "Mike Anthony: UConn football must open the 2019 season with more than a victory against Wagner," 29 Aug. 2019 The right to investigate, to digress, to stretch out beyond the basic requirements of the story is given only to the extremely talented. — Sam Sacks, WSJ, "Fiction: The Great Migration North," 28 June 2019 Cramming this much historical minutiae into 20 chapters can make the book feel disjointed at times, but Kurlansky fans expect and enjoy his generous narratives, chock-full of curious if occasionally digressing facts. — Elaine Khosrova, WSJ, "‘Milk!’ Review: Food History Worth Nursing," 7 May 2018 Commissioner Richard Ross opened his remarks by thanking the class’s family and friends for their support, and then digressed. — Tommy Rowan, Philly.com, "Son of SEPTA police chief joins the family business," 15 Dec. 2017 Her comments in Parliament rarely digressed from that script. — Tim Ross, Bloomberg.com, "U.K.'s May Backed Over No-Deal Stance as Brexit Stakes Rise," 10 Oct. 2017 Trump digressed often from the virtues of Strange and into discussions of border walls and North Korea and football players. — Avi Selk, Washington Post, "No, Mr. President, you did not invent the name ‘Big Luther’ Strange," 23 Sep. 2017 The nearly two-minute ad starts off with the pop star in the recording studio, but then digresses into various distractions (mostly in the form of food). — Valentina Zarya, Fortune, "Watch Taylor Swift Talk to Her Cat, Eat Cookie Dough, and Beat Up Andy Samberg," 7 Sep. 2017 Trump himself can not be trusted to speak at a funeral without digressing into lies about the historic nature of his electoral college victory. — Brian Beutler, New Republic, "Donald Trump Is America’s Most Irredeemable Man," 18 Aug. 2017These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'digress.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for digress
digress
verb
English Language Learners Definition of digress
: to speak or write about something that is different from the main subject being discussed
See the full definition for digress in the English Language Learners Dictionary
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