How to Use tangent in a Sentence

tangent

noun
Definition of tangentnext
Synonyms for tangentnext
  • When the bear reaches B, the swimmer, at T, takes off on a tangent.
    — Quanta Magazine, 25 Aug. 2021
  • The pop-culture send-ups went off on some loopy tangents.
    — Hal Boedeker, OrlandoSentinel.com, 13 May 2018
  • Spoiler alert: Most of them missed the memo and went on tangents instead.
    — Natalie Gontcharova, refinery29.com, 21 Jan. 2020
  • The bull can graze on a semicircle of area πL2/2 bounded by the tangent.
    — Quanta Magazine, 9 Dec. 2020
  • Fired up, Levi goes on a tangent about 1979 film Stalker.
    — Samantha Hissong, Rolling Stone, 7 July 2021
  • Create a set agenda and do not allow the team to go off on tangents.
    — Tom Cooney and Crystal Faulkner, Cincinnati.com, 27 June 2019
  • Stop at a point equidistant to the tangent point from your original point.
    — Kevin Hartnett, Scientific American, 17 Jan. 2018
  • And the circle packing proof tells you that there’s a polyhedron that has all its edges tangent to a sphere.
    — Quanta Magazine, 19 Mar. 2018
  • Shakespeare's script has a lot of wayward tangents, and Pelsue trims many of them.
    — Christopher Arnott, courant.com, 6 June 2017
  • The path of the hammer will be some straight line coming off a circular path—a tangent—into the sky.
    — Kyle Hill, Discover Magazine, 7 Feb. 2013
  • But then on Monday night, the Cincinnati Reds first baseman went on a tangent.
    — Charlie Goldsmith, The Enquirer, 17 Aug. 2021
  • There might be some tangents about our lives, our friendship, our cats and our Target runs.
    — Ashley Boucher, PEOPLE.com, 11 Sep. 2019
  • Barkley went on a tangent when discussing Spurs big man LaMarcus Aldridge.
    — Nick Schwartz, USA TODAY, 3 Nov. 2017
  • His tangent was met by appreciative hoots in all corners of the club.
    — Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune, 20 Aug. 2022
  • She’s been known to veer into conversational tangents about the oneness of her body, mind, and the Earth.
    — Allison P. Davis, The Cut, 1 Mar. 2018
  • Still, the movie soars, veering off the rails under the weight of its plots, subplots, themes, subthemes, montages, tangents, and non-sequiturs.
    — K. Austin Collins, HWD, 2 May 2018
  • Scenes tease out at great length and regularly swerve off on tangents.
    — Jordan Hoffman, HWD, 6 Apr. 2017
  • During his speech, Trump went on a tangent about a New York Times story that published earlier in the day.
    — Andrew J. Tobias, cleveland, 19 Sep. 2022
  • When Ruby drifts onto a tangent that can be hard to follow, Jean quickly brings her back.
    — Jenny Gold, Washington Post, 7 Mar. 2018
  • With the freedom a big hit affords, his sequel chases after all sorts of weirdo tangents.
    — Michael Phillips, chicagotribune.com, 2 May 2017
  • Schiff and other Democrats have called this line of inquiry a tangent and distraction from the committee’s work.
    — Billy House, Bloomberg.com, 30 Nov. 2017
  • Some people are off on their own personal tangents, getting ready for a few days off.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 25 Oct. 2019
  • To speculate about his talent is to set him off on a tangent about how BYU just needs an oversized water boy.
    — Joan Niesen, SI.com, 21 July 2016
  • But Mad Men never left the rest of the cast behind — and the concluding smile retconned the whole tangent as a career-capping ad campaign.
    — Darren Franich, EW.com, 12 Aug. 2022
  • From random role-playing skits to full on tangents, the 19-year-old has social media covered.
    — Justin Kirkland, Esquire, 27 Feb. 2018
  • More of the tangents and tentacles that a meaningful playoff series with the Rockets would have.
    — John Canzano, OregonLive.com, 21 Mar. 2018
  • The amount of power absorbed by the dielectric is often measured by something called the loss tangent.
    — Chris Lee, Ars Technica, 15 Jan. 2018
  • Was the shuttle a tangent or a detour in spaceflight history?
    — Corey S. Powell, Discover Magazine, 30 May 2020
  • Trump has also made factual mistakes while on the stump during his off-script tangents.
    — Lalee Ibssa, ABC News, 31 Oct. 2023
  • Moore rarely gives a straightforward answer to questions, preferring stories to sound bites, and tends to race off on lively tangents.
    — Lexi Pandell, WIRED, 31 Aug. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tangent.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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