digression
English
Alternative forms
- (obsolete) degression, disgression
Etymology
From Old French digressiun or disgressiun, from Latin digressio, from digressus + -io (“forming abstract nouns from verbs”), the past passive participle of digredi (“to step away, to digress”), from dis- + gradi (“to step, walk, go”).
Noun
digression (countable and uncountable, plural digressions)
- An aside, an act of straying from the main subject in speech or writing.
- c. 1374, Geoffrey Chaucer, Troilus & Criseyde, i, l. 87:
- The lectures included lengthy digressions on topics ranging from the professor's dog to the meaning of life.
- (generally uncountable) The act of straying from the main subject in speech or writing, (rhetoric) particularly for rhetorical effect.
- make digression... by way of digression...
- (obsolete) A deviancy, a sin or error, an act of straying from the path of righteousness or a general rule.
- (now rare) A deviation, an act of straying from a path.
- 1670, Charles Cotton translating Guillaume Girard as History of the Life of the Duke of Espernon, Bk. i, Ch. iv, p. 144:
- By this little digression into Gascony, the Duke had an opportunity... to re-inforce himself with some particular Servants of his.
- 1670, Charles Cotton translating Guillaume Girard as History of the Life of the Duke of Espernon, Bk. i, Ch. iv, p. 144:
- (astronomy, physics) An elongation, a deflection or deviation from a mean position or expected path.
- 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, Bk. VI, Ch. iv, p. 288:
- This digression [of the Sun] is not equall, but neare the Æquinoxiall intersections, it is right and greater, near the Solstices, more oblique and lesser.
- 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, Bk. VI, Ch. iv, p. 288:
Related terms
Translations
a departure from the main subject in speech or writing
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See also
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /di.ɡʁɛ.sjɔ̃/, /di.ɡʁe.sjɔ̃/
Audio (file)
Further reading
- “digression” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
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