digression
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English
[edit]
Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Old French digressiun or disgressiun, from Latin dīgressiōnem, from dīgressus + -iō (suffix forming abstract nouns from verbs), the past passive participle of dīgredior (“to step away, to digress”), from dis- + gradior (“to step, walk, go”).
Pronunciation
[edit]- (UK) IPA(key): /dʌɪˈɡɹɛʃən/, /dɪˈɡɹɛʃən/
- (US) IPA(key): /daɪˈɡɹɛʃən/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Noun
[edit]digression (countable and uncountable, plural digressions)
- An aside, an act of straying from the main subject in speech or writing.
- The lectures included lengthy digressions on topics ranging from the professor's dog to the meaning of life.
- 2022 November 21, Barney Ronay, “Iran’s brave and powerful gesture is a small wonder from a World Cup of woe”, in The Guardian[1]:
- History tells us stodgy, cautious stuff, cardigan-football is the way to go here. The 1966 World Cup kicked off with 0-0 draw against Uruguay so tedious the Guardian match report contains a whimsical digression on the writer’s urge to drift off to sleep in the second half.
- (generally uncountable) The act of straying from the main subject in speech or writing, (rhetoric) particularly for rhetorical effect.
- make digression... by way of digression...
- (obsolete) A deviancy, a sin or error, an act of straying from the path of righteousness or a general rule.
- (now rare) A deviation, an act of straying from a path.
- 1670, Guillaume Girard, translated by Charles Cotton, History of the Life of the Duke of Espernon, Bk. i, Ch. iv, p. 144:
- By this little digression into Gascony, the Duke had an opportunity... to re-inforce himself with some particular Servants of his.
- (astronomy, physics) An elongation, a deflection or deviation from a mean position or expected path.
- 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, Bk. VI, Ch. iv, p. 288:
- This digression [of the Sun] is not equall, but neare the Æquinoxiall intersections, it is right and greater, near the Solstices, more oblique and lesser.
Synonyms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]a departure from the main subject in speech or writing
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See also
[edit]References
[edit]- “digression, n..”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1896.
French
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Latin dīgressiōnem.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]digression f (plural digressions)
Further reading
[edit]- “digression”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Middle English
[edit]Noun
[edit]digression
- digression
- c. 1380s, [Geoffrey Chaucer, William Caxton, editor], The Double Sorow of Troylus to Telle Kyng Pryamus Sone of Troye [...], [Westminster]: Explicit per Caxton, published 1482, →OCLC; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], book I, [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, →OCLC:
- It were a long disgression
Fro my matere.- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
Swedish
[edit]Noun
[edit]digression c
- (somewhat solemn) a digression
Declension
[edit]Declension of digression
See also
[edit]References
[edit]Categories:
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
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- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- en:Rhetoric
- English terms with rare senses
- en:Astronomy
- en:Physics
- French terms derived from Latin
- French 3-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio pronunciation
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
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- Middle English lemmas
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- Swedish lemmas
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