- of, like, or in the direction of a tangent
- drawn as a tangent
- going off at a tangent; diverging or digressing
- merely touching a subject, not dealing with it at length
adjective
The definition of tangential is something only partially related to a main point, or something that verges slightly off-course.
An example of tangential is when you are talking about global warming and you veer off into a discussion of other environmental subjects that aren't directly related to global warming.
YourDictionary definition and usage example. Copyright © 2018 by LoveToKnow Corp
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"tangential." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 20 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Tangential>.
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tangential. (n.d.). Retrieved January 20th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Tangential
tangential
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"tangential." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 20 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Tangential>.
APA Style
tangential. (n.d.). Retrieved January 20th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Tangential
tangential
also tan·gen·tal
adjective
- Of, relating to, or moving along or in the direction of a tangent.
- Merely touching or slightly connected.
- Only superficially relevant; divergent: a tangential remark.
Related Forms:
- tan·gen′ti·al′i·ty
noun
- tan·gen′tial·ly
adverb
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"tangential." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 20 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Tangential>.
APA Style
tangential. (n.d.). Retrieved January 20th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Tangential
Adjective
(comparative more tangential, superlative most tangential)
- Referring to a tangent, moving at a tangent to something.
- Merely touching, positioned as a tangent.
- Only indirectly related.
- That subject is tangential to our discussion, and we cannot let it distract us.
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
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Cite this page
MLA Style
"tangential." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 20 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Tangential>.
APA Style
tangential. (n.d.). Retrieved January 20th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Tangential
Sentence Examples
- This is called the tangential area, and will be denoted by T1.
- Lord Rayleigh has shown that there is a tangential motion as well as a motion in and out.
- Luminous arcs (T), tangential to the upper and lower parts of each halo, also occur, and in the case of the inner halo, the arcs may be prolonged to form a quasi-elliptic halo.1 The physical explanation of halos originated with Rene Descartes, who ascribed their formation to the presence of icecrystals in the atmosphere.
- The - - 4X + g tangential area may be expressed in terms of chordal areas.
- Some of the formulae obtained by the above methods can be expressed more simply in terms of chordal or tangential areas taken in various ways.
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WORDS NEAR tangential IN THE DICTIONARY
- tangential
- tangent line
- tangent plane
- tangent-plane