Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To turn aside, especially to depart temporarily from the main subject in writing or speaking; stray. synonym: swerve.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A digression.
  • To turn aside from the direct or appointed course; deviate or wander away, as from the main road, from the main tenor and purpose in speaking or writing, or from the principal line of argument, study, or occupation.
  • To turn aside from the right path; transgress; offend.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete Digression.
  • intransitive verb To step or turn aside; to deviate; to swerve; especially, to turn aside from the main subject of attention, or course of argument, in writing or speaking.
  • intransitive verb rare To turn aside from the right path; to transgress; to offend.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb intransitive : To step or turn aside; to deviate; to swerve; especially, to turn aside from the main subject of attention, or course of argument, in writing or speaking.
  • verb intransitive : To turn aside from the right path; to transgress; to offend.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb wander from a direct or straight course
  • verb lose clarity or turn aside especially from the main subject of attention or course of argument in writing, thinking, or speaking

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin dīgredī, dīgress- : dī-, dis-, apart; see dis– + gradī, to go; see ghredh- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin digressum, past participle of digredi.

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Examples

Comments

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  • Wow, check out the head vexample.

    And this :-(

    "If we had scanned him in Adelaide and it showed nothing, we would have exposed him to radiation for no particular reason, so going over to Perth was the sensible thing to do. Going into the game he actually had no pain and got through the game reasonably well, but his back digressed to where it was before the Adelaide game, and that's when we investigated it."

    - Alex Kountouris, quoted in Chloe Saltau & Jamie Pandaram, Siddle out for five months , theage.com.au, 4 Feb 2010.

    February 4, 2010