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Added 10 October 2026

tangent

/ˈtæn.d͡ʒənt/ noun

Categories: Describing WordsUncommon Words

Latin root: tangentem Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about tangent at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

  1. A straight line touching a curve at a single point without crossing it there.
  2. A function of an angle that gives the ratio of the sine to the cosine, in either the real or complex numbers. Symbols: tan, tg.
  3. A course suddenly and unexpectedly divergent from one which was previously being followed (especially one embarked on before reaching the end of the previous course). A new topic of discussion unrelated to the one which came before it, arrived at due to a single (peripheral or trivial) point in common with it.
    I believe we went off onto a tangent when we started talking about monkeys on unicycles at his retirement party.

adjective

  1. Touching a curve at a single point but not crossing it at that point.
  2. Of a topic, only loosely related to a main topic.
  3. Straight; not horizontally curved.
    The collision occurred on a two-mile stretch of tangent track.

verb

  1. Synonym of fly off at a tangent (“to digress from a topic”).

Origin

Borrowed from Latin tangentem, the accusative of tangēns (“touching”) (in the phrase līnea tangēns (“a touching line”)), the present participle of the verb tangō (“touch”, verb), from Proto-Italic *tangō, from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g- (“to touch”). Cognate with Old English þaccian (“to touch lightly, pat, stroke”). More at thack, thwack.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

Related Words: papertangentialdigressiongetawaylamshearexcursionasidedeparturedeviationdivergencedetour

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