tangential.
Referring to a tangent, moving at a tangent to something.
Meaning & usage
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.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g- Proto-Italic *tangō Latin tangō Latin tangēns Latin tangentembor. English tangent Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālisder. Old French -ialder. Middle English -ial English -ial English tangential From tangent + -ial.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.