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digress

[dih-gres, dahy-]
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verb (used without object)
  1. to deviate or wander away from the main topic or purpose in speaking or writing; depart from the principal line of argument, plot, study, etc.
  2. Archaic. to turn aside.
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Origin of digress

1520–30; < Latin dīgressus, past participle of dīgredī “to go off, depart, digress,” equivalent to dī- di-2 + -gredī, combining form of gradī “to go”; cf. grade
Related formsdi·gress·er, noundi·gress·ing·ly, adverbre·di·gress, verb (used without object)
Can be confuseddigress diverge

Synonyms

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1. ramble, stray.

Synonym study

1. See deviate.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for digress

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • Anthony Despeisses was a lawyer who used frequently to digress.

  • I will digress a bit and explain how these stone-quarries were discovered.

  • Just here let me digress a moment to erect a warning signboard.

    How to Cook Husbands

    Elizabeth Strong Worthington

  • This is a digression I grant, but I cannot help it; it is the nature of man to digress.

    Newton Forster

    Captain Frederick Marryat

  • Let us digress and note the happy return of this man to English soil.

    Old Taverns of New York

    William Harrison Bayles

British Dictionary definitions for digress

digress

verb (intr)
  1. to depart from the main subject in speech or writing
  2. to wander from one's path or main direction
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Derived Formsdigresser, noun

Word Origin

C16: from Latin dīgressus turned aside, from dīgredī, from dis- apart + gradī to go
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for digress

v.

1520s, from Latin digressus, past participle of digredi "to go aside, depart" (see digression), or perhaps a back-formation from digression. Related: Digressed; digressing.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper