digress
Americanverb (used without object)
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digresses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
digressed,
past participle, past
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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
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had digressedperfect
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was digressingprogressive
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were digressingprogressive
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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:
I digress, though: This is a column about what is popular, not what is right and wrong!
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2025
He also lives in multiple homes and has his own private jet — but I digress.
From Salon ● Sep. 7, 2023
Premium subscriptions are just a click away if you’re feeling froggy, but we digress.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2023
But I digress — this is supposed to be a positive column.
From Seattle Times ● May 3, 2023
Since a Suggestion from the Master is a Command not unlike Holy Writ, I shall digress and comply at the same Time.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
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
In one letter, he digresses to say he took a break from writing to eat a quart of ice cream.
From New York Times ● May 28, 2018
Milton never digresses; he never violates harmony of sound or sense; his poems have all their regular movement from quiet beginning through a rising and breaking wave of passion and splendour to quiet close.
From English Literature: Modern Home University Library of Modern Knowledge by G. H. (George Herbert) Mair
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 audience of 1,600-plus, all primed to cheer the speakers’ adversarial views, found less and less to react to as the panel digressed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2023
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
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
“You are digressing really fast, I’m just saying,” Haley added, laughing off the incident before promising to keep in mind his running-mate suggestion.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 20, 2023
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
I fear I am digressing, but these remarks may be new to some readers.
From In Touch with Nature Tales and Sketches from the Life by Gordon Stables
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.
