Meaning

2 senses

  1. (intransitive)To wander about.

  2. (intransitive)To stray from a subject or theme.

More definitions
  • lose clarity or turn aside especially from the main subject of attention or course of argument in writing, thinking, or speaking

Origin

First attested in 1599; borrowed from Latin dīvagātus, perfect active participle of dīvago

First attested in 1599; borrowed from Latin dīvagātus, perfect active participle of dīvagor (“to wander here and there”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from Latin dis- (“in different direction”) + vagor (“to wander”). Cognate with French divaguer.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

divagates, divagating, divagated, divagated
Base formdivagate · to divagate
3rd person singulardivagates
Present participledivagating
Past simpledivagated
Past participledivagated

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theydivagate
he, she, itdivagates

Past simpleLesson

all personsdivagated

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave divagated
he, she, ithas divagated

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill divagate

Synonyms

3 synonyms
Close in meaning
  • lose clarity or turn aside especially from the main subject of attention or course of argument in writing, thinking, or speaking:digressstraywander

Word family

1 related words
Relateddivagation

Lessons for this word

3 lessons

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
dittydiurnaldivadiveB1diverB1divergeC1
divagate — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto