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Glite Dictionary
to go off on tangents

to go off on tangents

1 7.0
To start talking about things not related to the main subject
  • phrasal verb
  • Informal
translation icon : divagar
  • When discussing the project, she tends to go off on tangents, bringing up past experiences that have little relevance.
  • tends to go off on tangents

Examples

  • Have you gone off on tangents without good cause?

    Academic text (2010)

  • Since we're all going off on tangents here, this is mine.

    Blog text (11)

  • sh0cktopus said: "Since we're all going off on tangents here, this is mine."

    Blog text (11)

  • They kept going off on tangents.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • 1. The philosopher, by contrast, converses calmly without hurrying and even has time to go off on tangents.

    Academic text (2000)

  • In our meetings, he often goes off on tangents about unrelated topics, making it hard to stay focused.

  • During the lecture, the professor would sometimes go off on tangents, sharing interesting anecdotes unrelated to the subject.

Synonyms

to stray
vsto go off on tangents
26 4.0

To move away from the main topic when speaking or writing

begins discussing other topics deliberately rather than drifting slowly
to fly off at a tangent
vsto go off on tangents
  • Informal
8.9

To suddenly start talking about a different subject

allows turning to topics that can be only slightly related as well

How Focused

to get to the point
  • Informal
126 3.1
to digress
22 6.8
to ramble
  • Informal
48 5.3
to go off on tangents
  • Informal
1 7.0

Surface Forms

go off on tangents infinitive
went off on tangents past
gone off on tangents past participle
going off on tangents present participle
goes off on tangents third person singular

Morphology

go + off + on + tangent

The meaning is directly derivable from the parts: 'go off' (move away/deviate) + 'on tangent(s)' (a departure from the main subject), so together they literally describe moving away from the main topic. This motion-metaphor composition is cross-linguistically common and follows standard English verb + prepositional phrase patterns, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Go off on tangents comes from math: a tangent is a straight line that just touches a circle once and then moves away. That's why to go off on tangents means 'to start talking about ideas that move away from the main topic'.