Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To wander or drift about.
- v. To ramble; digress.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To wander about, as from place to place or from subject to subject; stray; digress.
Wiktionary
WordNet 3.0
- 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 dis- ("in different direction") + vagatus, past participle of vago ("wander, ramble") (Wiktionary)
- Late Latin dīvagārī, dīvagāt- : Latin dī-, dis-, apart; see dis- + Latin vagārī, to wander (from vagus, wandering). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“But if you're planning to be at Dragonmeet, in addition to doing proper obeisance to the mighty robin_d_laws, and buying a Rare Preprint of our new Trail of Cthulhu adventure book, Shadows Over Filmland, and watching us divagate on GMing Tips and Investigative Game Design in seminars, and playing wonderful other games run by wonderful other people, ask me about Iowa State A&M.”
“Thence to the "40 Years of GenCon: The Attendees" panel, at which Robin asked me to divagate, in my role as comparative smellologist, on the smells of Milwaukee vs.”
“Allow me to briefly divagate here on the nonexistence of abortion as an option in Knocked Up.”
“But when they had sat down, Julius was little inclined to divagate into an account of his travels.”
“So does a child's balloon divagate upon the currents of the air, and touch and slide off again from every obstacle.”
A Book of English Prose Part II, Arranged for Secondary and High Schools
“It would be of interest to divagate from literature to politics and inquire to what extent Romanticism is incorporate in Imperialism; to inquire to what extent Romanticism has possessed the imagination of Imperialists, and to what extent it was made use of by Disraeli.”
“So does a child's balloon divagate upon the currents of the air, and touch, and slide off again from every obstacle.”
“But I divagate (I perceive in a thousand ways that I grow old).”
“Sub-divagate" would be more appropriate since by most definitions, a Diva must actually have a modicum of fame or talent.”
“My rationale for preparing so detailed a schema rests on (a) my proclivity to divagate and lose focus, (2) the high valuation I put on transitions and continuity, and (iii) the importance of strong, clear, explicit thesis sentences for an audience to orient itself.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘divagate’.
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phrontistery - d
from phrontistery.info
dysteleology, dyslogistic, dystectic, dysphoria, dysphonia, dystopia, dysphemism, dystocia, dyslogia, dysaesthesia, dyschromatopic, dysbulia and 624 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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Dan: You read this already. — Your p...
Long ago, I learned a useful habit from a good friend: Every time he looked up a word in his dictionary, he’d put a mark next to it. His explanation for this was vague at best, but I understood a...
dittography, haplology, haplography, idiomology, cacoepy, orthoepist, psellism, pronunciation spe..., galbe, theropod, publican, sciolist and 111 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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azd's Words
adamantine, abatial, ablate, ablative, abrogate, accretive, acromegaly, acrostic, actinism, actinic, acuity, adduce and 968 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, D
dodecahedron, din, diglyceride, dysphotopsia, decoction, deboss, diatonic, dithyramb, divagate, discalced, dishdasha, daft and 281 more...
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Tawkward
Verbal 'wtf' exchanges; odd moments of conversation and socializing.
somniloquy, bafflegab, syllepsis, sesquipedalian, whinge, divulge, anacoluthon, anaphora, sumpsimus, persiflage, eristic, overtones and 198 more...
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Units Of Language
Word:
-a unit of language consisting of one or more spoken sounds or their written representation, that functions as a principal carrier of meaning.sulk, promenade, skulk, idle, subsequently, moody, paroxysm, felony, anent, generic, hallucinogen, synaesthesia and 215 more...
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Papageno's Words, Pt. I
hobbledehoy, absquatulate, chthonic, prolix, ululate, internecine, verisimilitude, animadversion, concupiscence, vertiginous, cucullate, lucubrate and 1554 more...
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Verbal Advantage List
ostensible, paraphrase, digress, uncanny, candor, morose, adept, saturated, pragmatic, congenial, capricious, blatant and 487 more...
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rememberers
prolix, ageusia, animadversion, anodyne, antic, arabesque, beadle, brachymetropia, colophon, desquamation, diaphoresis, diegesis and 3250 more...
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jmjarmstrong's list
Words that I used to know.
geloscopy, hunker, willy nilly, harum scarum, whacko, meh, nork, misunderestimate, atrabiliousness, luftmensch, auxanometer, hyperhedonia and 1948 more...
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want to use in conversation!
words I know but have only read, never used, but wish to try to use because I like them
moratory, purliev, dythrambic, ligneous, chatoyant, calignous, divagate, nyctalopia, nyctophobia, nephretic, mithridate, heuristic and 6 more...
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Wander
Words related to wander.
peregrinate, vagrate, vagary, pilgrimage, spatiate, expatiate, rove, ramble, gad, pervagate, vague, divagate
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djilk's Words
epistemology, parsimony, entrepreneurism, entrepreneurialism, ontology, clandestine, introvert, irrational, otiose, cogredience, semioviparous, desiccate and 64 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for divagate.
jmjarmstrong JM will never divagate from his digressions nor digress from his divagations. Sep 27, 2010
whichbe A controversy among divas. May 11, 2008
t42h tennessee williams says in the new york review of books that his divagation may have been an asset. Dec 13, 2007