Make Your Point: TANGENTIAL

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pronounce TANGENTIAL:

tan JENT shull

Hear it.

connect this word to others:

Our word tangential belongs to the tangere family: to the group of words that trace back to the Latin tangere, meaning "to touch." That family includes words like tactile, tangible, intact, contaminate, and integrate.

And _____tegr___, meaning "to break apart completely, as if none of the parts are touching each other any longer." Can you recall that one?

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

"Tangent" comes from the Latin tangere, "to touch." In geometry, a tangent is a point where things touch, but only at that single point. The purple line below is a tangent. It touches the circle at just that one point.

In a figurative sense, a tangent is an idea or a topic that just barely connects to some other idea or topic.

So if you call something tangential, you mean it's only a tiny bit connected to the topic or situation at hand.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Adjective: "It was a tangential comment;" "That's a tangential concern."

Other forms:

The adverb is "tangentially."

The comments or topics that only slightly connect are "tangents," and the state or quality of being slightly connected is "tangency" or "tangentiality."

how to use it:

Pick the common, formal, slightly negative word "tangential" when you want to sound logical, even mathematical, as you complain about a loose or shaky connection.

You might refer to someone's comments, questions, or anecdotes as tangential, often tangential to whatever the main discussion is. Or, you might label certain details or pieces of information as tangential. Or, you might talk about tangential characters or plotlines in a story, or tangential connections between stories on TV news, or scenes in a dream.

Or, you might complain about someone who goes off on a tangent: that is, someone who leaves the main topic and heads off into a completely different one.

examples:

"[The writers pay] loving attention to the personal quirks defining the most tangential characters."
— Melanie McFarland, Salon, 31 August 2021

"The new song fit right into the repertory, with a turbo-boogie riff, lusty lyrics and a cheerfully tangential guitar interlude."
— Jon Pareles, New York Times, 6 January 2012

has this page helped you understand "tangential"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "tangential" without saying "irrelevant" or "digressive."

try it out:

In his blog Raptitude, David Cain wrote:

"The thinking mind has no master plan, just ideas. You're buttoning up your shirt in the mirror, and the mind says, 'Hey remember that time you ran that entire meeting without knowing you had buttoned up your shirt with all the wrong buttonholes?' The mind supposes this might be relevant information, given that you are buttoning a shirt right now, but it only triggers tangential worries that are harder to let go of."

First, do you identify with this scenario? Does your own mind often spit out tangential thoughts or images?

Next, with the example of the button-up shirt in mind, focus on a pleasant or routine task that you'll do today, and then describe a thought, a worry, or a concern that you could easily dismiss as tangential to that task.

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for May is "The Rock & Roll Hall of Game."

It's inspired by a Jeopardy! category called Foodstock.

I'll give you a clue, and you'll try to come up with the tweaked name of a group or solo artist from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

For example, if I give you "They're an American boy band fond of surfing, California, rich vocal harmonies, and helping the Mario Brothers rescue the princess," then you give me "The Peach Boys" (a playful blend of "The Beach Boys" and "Princess Peach" from the Mario games).

Try this one today: These British-American rockers dominated the 70s with songs like "Landslide" and "Go Your Own Way," then dominated the 80s as cheerful yellow pie-like characters who chomped their way through dots in mazes.

To see the answer, scroll all the way down!

review this word:

1. The opposite of TANGENTIAL is

A. PALE.
B. CENTRAL.
C. PERIPHERAL.

2. In their article "Low-Budget Film Panders Just As Shamelessly As Big Studio Feature," the Onion joked about the film's "cloying indie soundtrack," "bittersweet ending," and "tangential _____."

A. acting
B. subplot
C. cinematography

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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