tangent
Touching a curve at a single point but not crossing it at that pointTouching a curve at a single point but not crossing it at that point.
» Tom went off on a tangent.
Tom sprang plötzlich vom Thema ab. — Tickler
danepo · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
3 senses(not comparable)Touching a curve at a single point but not crossing it at that point.
(not comparable)Of a topic, only loosely related to a main topic.
(not comparable)Straight; not horizontally curved.
The collision occurred on a two-mile stretch of tangent track.
Examples
12 sentencesTom went off on a tangent.
deTom sprang plötzlich vom Thema ab. — Tickler
The line s is tangent to the circumference described.
Stop me if I go off on a tangent.
Sorry, I didn't mean to go off on a tangent.
deEntschuldigung, ich wollte nicht vom Thema abschweifen. — Malkuth
Stick to the subject, don't go off on a tangent.
deBleib beim Thema, ohne abzuschweifen! — Yorwba
Translations
4 languagesOrigin
Borrowed from Latin tangentem, the accusative of tangēns (“touching”) (in the phrase līneaBorrowed from Latin tangentem, the accusative of tangēns (“touching”) (in the phrase līnea tangēns (“a touching line”)), the present participle of the verb tangō (“touch”, verb), from Proto-Italic *tangō, from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g- (“to touch”).
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