Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To turn aside, especially from the main subject in writing or speaking; stray. See Synonyms at swerve.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To turn aside from the direct or appointed course; deviate or wander away, as from the main road, from the main tenor and purpose in speaking or writing, or from the principal line of argument, study, or occupation.
- To turn aside from the right path; transgress; offend.
- n. A digression.
Wiktionary
- v. intransitive : To step or turn aside; to deviate; to swerve; especially, to turn aside from the main subject of attention, or course of argument, in writing or speaking.
- v. intransitive : To turn aside from the right path; to transgress; to offend.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To step or turn aside; to deviate; to swerve; especially, to turn aside from the main subject of attention, or course of argument, in writing or speaking.
- v. rare To turn aside from the right path; to transgress; to offend.
- n. obsolete Digression.
WordNet 3.0
- v. wander from a direct or straight course
- v. lose clarity or turn aside especially from the main subject of attention or course of argument in writing, thinking, or speaking
Etymologies
- From Latin digressum, past participle of digredi. (Wiktionary)
- Latin dīgredī, dīgress- : dī-, dis-, apart; see dis- + gradī, to go; see ghredh- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“At this point I must once again digress briefly to say that I am totally in agreement with the response of the President of the Canadian Labour Congress, Joe Morris, to the announcement last week that the federal government intends to impose works councils on industries coming under federal jurisdiction.”
“In fact, the response went on to totally digress from the topic and talked more about the airline’s new premium cabins, and not customer service.”
“Not to digress from the thread about Darth Cheney, but there’s a copy of the suspect’s manifesto online.”
“I just met you and I already think you’re awesome. on January 4, 2008 at 12: 00 pm | Reply damsel in digress awesome post, ds. i hate that i went missing … i feel like i have so much catching up to do! but posts like this?”
“But you already knew that. on December 19, 2007 at 1: 07 pm | Reply damsel in digress i’m going to just be repeating everyone (damn my tardiness in getting around to your comments) but”
“Anyway I digress, that is alleged schoolboy nazi salutes under the bridge.”
“But I digress, which is an easy thing to do when writing about breasts and the beautification thereof.”
Inventor Spot - Inventions, Innovations, and Interesting Ideas for the Inventor in All of Us
“By the way, how do you 'digress' in a topic labeled General?”
“But I digress, that is not what I’m writing about, I am writing about a place near the Rockefeller Center.”
EXTRALIFE – By Scott Johnson - Fan post about Nintendo World
“It seems a common writer's myth that novels are allowed to digress, as if the writer doesn't have to be concerned with pacing or structure.”
The Huffington Post: Brian Gresko: Karen Russell on the Persistence of the Novelist
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘digress’.
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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Verbal_Advantage
paraphrase, ostensible, digress, uncanny, candor, morose, adept, saturated, pragmatic, congenial, capricious, blatant and 38 more...
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7thGradeWords
horde, doggedly, retina, frail, jovial, insidious, injudicious, brazen, tentative, hortle, adaver, benign and 91 more...
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jaydrox's list
Mah list!
mediocracy, captivatingly, devastatingly, dazedly, heavenly, flawless, copious, conviction, synoptic, amalgamation, prefatory, precursory and 150 more...
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gression
digress, progress, agressive, regression, congress, egression, retrogression, transgression, tigress, passive-aggressive, introgression, labiogression and 2 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6689 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1824 more...
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Favorites
disparage, partisan, cupidity, hokum, tussle, odious, dastardly, overture, plane, chronic, peering, peer and 328 more...
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My GRE Vocab
moniker, sobriquet, prerogative, aberration, aberrant, nuance, notorious, infamous, renown, allude, refer, content and 109 more...
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Good for Academics
Gahh!! Study!
supplant, usurp, finagle, winnow, draconian, abut, collude, swindle, objectify, incite, decadent, obstinate and 327 more...
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generationnext's Words
petulant, vehement, pensive, lascivious, vacillate, histrionic, satiated, svelte, lithe, zeitgeist, viscous, sommelier and 526 more...
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Personal Vocabulary List
All my favourite words that I come across!
veritable, incongruence, rigamorole, letcherous, revolting, repulsive, reputrid, rapatious, forays, guise, placate, paradigm and 1162 more...
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SAT vocab
abash, abate, abdicate, aberration, abhor, abject, abnegate, abortive, absolve, abstruse, accolade, accost and 175 more...
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GRE
abate, abdicate, aberrant, abhor, abjure, abrasive, abridge, abstain, acme, activism, adhere, admonish and 195 more...
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old faves
ones I already liked
vacuole, organelle, debauchle, voluptuous, spry, cattywampus, obscure, occlude, occult, celtic, voracious, ardently and 133 more...
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List Erine
cool mint antiseptic
shalom, cattywampus, bourgeoisie, aerophile, traverse, grotto, epicurean, ex cathedra, nautilus, epitaph, lathe, continuum and 753 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for digress.
bilby Wow, check out the head vexample.
And this :-(
"If we had scanned him in Adelaide and it showed nothing, we would have exposed him to radiation for no particular reason, so going over to Perth was the sensible thing to do. Going into the game he actually had no pain and got through the game reasonably well, but his back digressed to where it was before the Adelaide game, and that's when we investigated it."
- Alex Kountouris, quoted in Chloe Saltau & Jamie Pandaram, Siddle out for five months , theage.com.au, 4 Feb 2010. Feb 4, 2010