What does it mean to fly off a tangent?

: to start talking about something that is only slightly or indirectly related to the original subject She went off on a tangent about what happened to her last summer.

How do you say going off on a tangent?

•digress (verb)

  1. go off on a tangent,
  2. Excurse,
  3. go by way of,
  4. meander,
  5. be diffuse,
  6. get sidetracked,
  7. circumlocute,
  8. long way,

What does tangent mean in slang?

If someone goes off at a tangent, they start saying or doing something that is not directly connected with what they were saying or doing before. The conversation went off at a tangent.

What does fly off mean?

to go away quickly or suddenly; hurry off.

Where does the phrase on a tangent come from?

Remember “Noli me tangere”? Most people encounter it in high school geometry, where two lines touch, but don’t cross. Thus, going of on a tangent means going off on a line that touches the original one, but takes a different course.

What does it mean to work in tangent?

a subject or activity that is different than the one you are talking about or doing: We were talking about exercise and got off on a tangent.

What is the synonym of digress?

Some common synonyms of digress are depart, deviate, diverge, swerve, and veer. While all these words mean “to turn aside from a straight course,” digress applies to a departing from the subject of one’s discourse. a professor prone to digress.

What does tangent mean I ready?

adjective. in immediate physical contact; touching. Geometry. touching at a single point, as a tangent in relation to a curve or surface. in contact along a single line or element, as a plane with a cylinder.

Is a tangent a rant?

A portmanteau of “rant” and “tangent”. A digression which ends up in an angry tirade against something tenuously related or completely irrelevant from the discussed topic. Came across this after discovering that a “rant tangent” or a “tangent rant” didn’t really flow, and that the words could be joined with ease.

What does the idiom fly off the handle mean?

to become very angry
Definition of fly off the handle : to lose control of one’s emotions : to become very angry He tends to fly off the handle when people disagree with him.