In a sentence
Six example sentences with tangential, each labelled with its topic.
The budget meeting drifted into tangential debates about office plants and parking spaces, leaving the actual numbers untouched.
Business
The seminar lost an hour to a tangential question about whether Descartes kept a dog before returning to the argument itself.
Philosophy
The director's commentary wanders into tangential stories about the catering truck and says almost nothing about the film.
Movies
The judge cut off the witness when the testimony turned tangential, wandering into a dispute over a neighbor's fence.
Law
The press conference drifted into tangential questions about the coach's diet, and nobody asked about the fourth quarter.
Basketball
The essay's tangential remarks about weather and trains are the parts readers remember, not its actual argument.
Literature
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Found in these word lists
Found in 4 published word listsRecognized
Each source is a published word list that contains tangential. No exam board publishes an official GRE, GMAT or SAT list; GMAT words come from GRE lists and the Academic Word List.