digress

Etymology

From Latin digressum, past participle of digredi.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: di‧gress
• IPA^(key): /daɪˈɡɹɛs/, /dɪˈɡɹɛs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛs

Verb

digress (third-person singular simple present digresses, present participle digressing, simple past and past participle digressed)

1. (intransitive) To step or turn aside; to deviate; to swerve; especially, to turn aside from the main subject of attention, or course of argument, in writing or speaking.
   • Holland

     Moreover she beginneth to digress in latitude.

   • John Locke

     In the pursuit of an argument there is hardly room to digress into a particular definition as often as a man varies the signification of any term.

   • 1959, Tom Lehrer (music), “In Old Mexico”:

     […] For I hadn't had so much fun since the day / my brother's dog Rover / got run over. / (Rover was killed by a Pontiac. And it was done with such grace and artistry that the witnesses awarded the driver both ears and the tail – but I digress.)

2. (intransitive) To turn aside from the right path; to transgress; to offend.
   • Shakespeare

     Thy abundant goodness shall excuse / This deadly blot on thy digressing son.