Meaning & use
digression
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Meanings
nouncountable
A part of a talk or piece of writing in which the speaker or writer wanders away from the main subject.
Grammar: Countable: one digression, several digressions. Often followed by into or about.
Patterns
- a digression into something
- a digression about something
- after a brief digression
After a short digression about his childhood, the professor returned to the lecture.
The novel is full of amusing digressions that slow the plot.
Forgive the digression, but I should mention one more detail.
noununcountable
The act or habit of moving away from the main topic when speaking or writing.
Grammar: Uncountable when it describes the habit: digression is common in casual talk.
Patterns
- prone to digression
- given to digression
Her essay lost focus because of too much digression.
Grandfather was prone to digression and rarely finished a story on time.
The editor warned against digression in the report.
Word forms
| plural | digressions |
|---|
Common combinations
- a brief digression
- Let me make a brief digression to explain the term.
- a lengthy digression
- The speech included a lengthy digression about local politics.
- go off on a digression
- He tends to go off on a digression whenever he mentions his hometown.
- forgive the digression
- Forgive the digression, but this story is related.
- a digression into history
- The guide made a digression into history that nobody minded.
Synonyms and how they differ
- tangent
- Tangent is more informal and is used in phrases like 'go off on a tangent', often suggesting the speaker has lost track completely.
- aside
- Aside is a short remark that is separate from the main point, usually quicker and lighter than a digression.
- detour
- Detour is a figurative route away from the main path and works well for journeys or arguments but is less specific to speech.
- diversion
- Diversion implies being turned away from something and can refer to attention or traffic, not only to speech.
Opposites
Word family
- digress verb
- to wander from the main subject
- digressive adjective
- tending to wander from the main subject
- digressively adverb
- in a way that wanders from the subject
Commonly confused: digression or regression? digression or aggression?
digression vs regression
Regression means a return to an earlier or worse state, while digression means moving off topic.
digression vs aggression
Aggression is hostile behavior, which has nothing to do with wandering from a subject.
Practice
The lecturer made a long ___ about his holidays before returning to the topic of cell biology. What fits best?
Choose one answer.
A digression is a move away from the main subject, which matches what the lecturer did. Regression and progression mean going backward or forward, and a suggestion is a proposal.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “digression”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.