digress
Americanverb (used without object)
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digresses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
digressed,
past participle, past
-
digressing
present participle
verb
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to depart from the main subject in speech or writing
-
to wander from one's path or main direction
Synonym Usage
See deviate.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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digresssimple
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digressessimple
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have digressedperfect
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has digressedperfect
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am digressingprogressive
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are digressingprogressive
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is digressingprogressive
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have been digressingperfect progressive
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has been digressingperfect progressive
Past
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digressedsimple
-
had digressedperfect
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was digressingprogressive
-
were digressingprogressive
-
had been digressingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of digress
First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin dīgressus “departed,” past participle of dīgredī “to go off, depart, digress,” from dī- di- 2 + -gredī (combining form of gradī “to go”; cf. grade)
Explanation
If we're talking about science fiction, and you suddenly go off on a long tangent about the cost of grape soda, you digress. When a person digresses, they stray from the topic. It's easy to understand why you digressed from the main topic. You were incredibly excited, speeding on caffeine, and, let's face it, you've never been at a loss for words. Don't get me wrong: I love your wanderings — how you drift from one topic to the next, letting your mind explore. The problem was that the meeting was running late and there was no time to let you digress. I had to pull you back to the main topic. I didn't want our potential new partners to get the idea that these digressions were typical.
Vocabulary lists containing digress
Essential Academic Vocabulary for High School Students, List 2
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Grade 11, List 1
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ACT Vocabulary List
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“The Madman’s Guide” has no chapter headings but many signposts such as “to digress further” and “at last to return to.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
If David Nihill was a philosopher, his credo might be “I digress, therefore I am.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 13, 2026
I digress, though: This is a column about what is popular, not what is right and wrong!
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2025
But I digress — this is supposed to be a positive column.
From Seattle Times ● May 3, 2023
But though I can digress with the best of them, I am nothing in my soul if not obsessive.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
Its narrative offers few character sketches, jumps around in time and digresses into subjects that distract more than they enlighten.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026
He digresses to tell me the story, however, and it’s literally longer than this entire article’s word count.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 13, 2026
She pads and digresses; what could be a sentence becomes a paragraph.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 26, 2022
At almost every dramatic moment, Sampson digresses, filling in the picture with background information, some of it fascinating, some annoying.
From New York Times ● Aug. 3, 2018
He then digresses into an apostrophe, O dignity, how dost thou impose upon the world! then returning to himself, Blood, says he, thou art but blood, however concealed with appearances and decorations.
From Notes to Shakespeare — Volume 01: Comedies by Samuel Johnson
And during a meeting in early January with oil and gas executives that was supposed to be about rebuilding Venezuela’s oil industry, Trump apparently digressed yet again into talking about the ballroom.
From Slate ● Apr. 30, 2026
The conversation digressed, as it often does among this group, to food.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2022
He protested, quibbled, digressed or simply could not recall.
From New York Times ● Nov. 10, 2021
"I am not a Bravo executive, so I don’t think I can speak to this on," she digressed.
From Fox News ● Oct. 14, 2021
But let us return to the point we digressed from.
From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli
Elliptical, digressing, self-interrupting, parenthesizing, Herzen wrote as he spoke, in a torrent of ideas, reminiscences, and literary and historical allusions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
But then Will spoils the effect by digressing into a jarring non sequitur:
From Salon ● Dec. 20, 2025
“Look at that beautiful lake,” he said, digressing.
From New York Times ● Jun. 19, 2024
But when I read it, I realized all the things I thought were my flaws — the digressing, the self-contradiction — in Bernhard that was the writing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 27, 2022
—Macbeth “Thy abundant goodness shall excuse this deadly blot in thy digressing son.”
From Wau-nan-gee or the Massacre at Chicago A Romance of the American Revolution by Major John Richardson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
