This week’s theme
Words from geometry

This week’s words
elliptic
triangulation
squarely
tangent
asymptote

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(TAN-juhnt)

MEANING:

noun:	1. A line of thought or action that diverges from the main topic or course.
	2. A line that touches a curve or a surface at one point but doesn’t cross it.
adjective:	1. Straying from the main topic.
	2. Touching a curve or a surface at one point without crossing it.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin tangere (to touch). Earliest documented use: 1594.

USAGE:

“Be cognizant of the exact question you were asked and make sure to answer it fully before going off on a tangent.”
Ryan Joseph; Job Interview Etiquette; Security Business (Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin); Nov 2023.

“If once this tangent flight of mine were over, and I were returned to my wonted leisurely motion in my old circle, I may probably endeavour to return her poetic compliment in kind.”
Robert Burns; The Letters of Robert Burns, Vol 1; Oxford University Press; 1986.

See more usage examples of tangent in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: