tangent
tan juhnt
- n a straight line or plane that touches a curve or curved surface at a point but does not intersect it at that point
- n ratio of the opposite to the adjacent side of a right-angled triangle
- It's exactly the kind of over-enthusiastic clich Wallace was so good at examining and twisting and footnoting into an ironic tangent, and it was that distrust for pat .
- He was desperately trying to stay on top of the flood of data pouring in over the transom to make sure he wasn't going off on a crazy tangent.
- Neither attack was outraged or outrageous enough to create a new political conversation, let alone a tangent.