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Sand-dumes Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

meaning of

Kindly elabroate on meaning of Tangent..

for example.. she took random tangent.. or was off to random tangent!!

Thanks ..appreciate each and every input..
  

Top answer

" In geometry, a tangent is something that touches, but does not intersect, another figure. In conversation, a tangent is something touching, but not really pertaining to, the subject being discussed. For example, I could go off on a "random tangent" right now and tell you my son's geometry teacher had a baby last month, and that the baby was premature and had to stay in the hospital for three weeks before it could come home...

— Delmobile

  • " In geometry, a tangent is something that touches, but does not intersect, another figure.
  • In conversation, a tangent is something touching, but not really pertaining to, the subject being discussed.
  • For example, I could go off on a "random tangent" right now and tell you my son's geometry teacher had a baby last month, and that the baby was premature and had to stay in the hospital for three weeks before it could come home...
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2 Answers
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I've heard the word with the indefinite article: "she went off on a tangent."

In geometry, a tangent is something that touches, but does not intersect, another figure. In conversation, a tangent is something touching, but not really pertaining to, the subject being discussed.

For example, I could go off on a "random tangent" right now and tell you my son's geometry teacher had
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a tangent = an unrelated topic of conversation; a topic only tenuously related to the conversation in progress.

to go (or to be) off on a tangent is the expression I'm familiar with. I'm not familiar with random tangent.

CJ
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