as in irrelevant
having little to do with the matter at hand
Your point is tangential to the main objective of this meeting so please save it for later.
Related Words
Relevance
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of tangential
At times, Pinho includes dry scenes where tangential characters address the camera with historical facts.
—
Murtada Elfadl, Variety, 28 May 2025
Baby Billy’s success or failure is tangential to the Gemstones at large, so the writing (and Goggins’s performance) can be as liberated as Billy’s ball sack.
—Scott Tobias, Vulture, 28 Apr. 2025
That’s just one of many tangential critiques the director lobs at Brazilian society in a movie that might have clocked in well under two hours without such digressions.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 18 May 2025
By eschewing administrative bloat and tangential initiatives, Brand New’s small team remains agile and free to react quickly to clients’ needs and cultural moments like Coachella or Fashion Week.
—Alexander Puutio, Forbes.com, 23 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tangential
Murtada Elfadl, Variety, 28 May 2025
Baby Billy’s success or failure is tangential to the Gemstones at large, so the writing (and Goggins’s performance) can be as liberated as Billy’s ball sack.
—Scott Tobias, Vulture, 28 Apr. 2025
That’s just one of many tangential critiques the director lobs at Brazilian society in a movie that might have clocked in well under two hours without such digressions.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 18 May 2025
By eschewing administrative bloat and tangential initiatives, Brand New’s small team remains agile and free to react quickly to clients’ needs and cultural moments like Coachella or Fashion Week.
—Alexander Puutio, Forbes.com, 23 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tangential
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tangential
Adjective
-
The idea of four years on a residential campus may feel either inaccessible or irrelevant.—
Catherine Wehlburg,
Forbes.com,
28 July 2025
-
Its 194 mph top speed and ability to cover zero to 62 mph in 3.4 seconds are irrelevant on congested Cañon Drive, but the soundtrack of the model’s 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 adds gravitas to the arrival at our breakfast destination.—
Viju Mathew,
Robb Report,
24 July 2025
Adjective
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The slope, or steepness, of the tangent line measures how quickly the function is changing at that point.—
Solomon Adams,
WIRED,
23 Feb. 2025
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By 1643, René Descartes had discovered a simple relationship between the curvatures of any four circles that are tangent to each other.—
Quanta Magazine,
Quanta Magazine,
10 Aug. 2023
Adjective
-
The term also reflects what psychologists call peripheral group membership—being part of a group but not central to it.—
Lydia Patrick,
MSNBC Newsweek,
21 July 2025
-
The cardinal symptom of peripheral artery disease is claudication.—
Colleen Doherty,
Verywell Health,
20 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Tangential.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tangential. Accessed 2 Aug. 2025.
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