digressive

[ dih-gres-iv, dahy- ]

/ dɪˈgrɛs ɪv, daɪ- /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR digressive ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

tending to digress; departing from the main subject.

Nearby words

digram, digraph, digraphic, digress, digression, digressive, digressively, digs, dihedral, dihedral angle, dihedral group

Origin of digressive

From the Latin word dīgressīvus, dating back to 1605–15. See digress, -ive

Related forms

di·gres·sive·ly, adverbdi·gres·sive·ness, nounun·di·gres·sive, adjectiveun·di·gres·sive·ly, adverb

un·di·gres·sive·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for digressive

He is known to be difficult, because of his love of the Latinate, and his non-linear, digressive, even symphonic, narrative style.
Nigeria’s Larger-Than-Life Nobel Laureate Chronicles a Fascinating Life|Chimamanda Adichie|August 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The Lettre sur les sourds et muets, however, is substantially a digressive examination of some points in aesthetics.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 4|Various
I was simply voluble and digressive—a natural incident of elation.
A Mind That Found Itself|Clifford Whittingham Beers
It is in this incidental and digressive way that we get the description of the Gospel in i. 18-ii.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Slice 7|Various

These are parenthetical and digressive, and, unless your audience is of superior intelligence, will confuse them.
The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table|Oliver Wendell Holmes
In a word, my work is digressive, and it is progressive too,—and at the same time.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman|Laurence Sterne

British Dictionary definitions for digressive

digressive

/ (daɪˈɡrɛsɪv) /

adjective

characterized by digression or tending to digress

Derived Forms

digressively, adverbdigressiveness, noun

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