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vocabulary
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tangential
in a sentence

tangential as in:  tangential to our discussion

Show 3 more sentences
  • It is difficult to keep her from going off on a tangent.
    tangent = off-topic change
  • An outline helps a speaker avoid leaving things out and going off on tangents.
    tangents = off-topic changes
  • It is called "tangential velocity" because the object whose velocity is being measured is always tangent to the circle.†
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Show 10 more with 6 word variations
  • There's only the slightest tangent with the Escher's work from which it gets its title.†
  • Alertness to tangential aspects of problems can help scientists to postulate significance that otherwise would be missed.†
  • She smoked and talked and ate for an hour without stopping, and I scribbled in my notebook as the muddy waters of tangents and cosines began to clarify.†  (source)
  • Tangentially  (source)
  • Rod considered wriggling around behind the gate, knowing that the tangency was one-sided and that he would be able to see through the locus from the other side, see anyone who came out without himself being seen.†  (source)
  • "That's what they are," Tom tangented off, "deep blue—a bit of color would spoil them, make them exotic.†  (source)
  • There the text went off on a tangent about how Bram Stoker had actually been...  (source)
    tangent = a different subject from the main thing being discussed before and after the different subject discussion (although it is a different subject, it does touch upon or connect to the main subject in some way)
  • He could feel them in his hands again while overhead the gulls flew tangents.†  (source)
  • She was tangential with her topics, and her hands gesticulated wildly, flying up with a nervousness that wasn't like her at all.†  (source)
  • Even, like, tangentially.†  (source)
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rare meaning

Show 1 sentence
It wandered along in curves and easy angles, swayed off and up in a pleasant tangent to the top of a small hill, ambled down again between fringes of beehung clover, and then cut sidewise across a meadow.  (source)
tangent = in a non-direct way
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