Definition

1. Noun:
   • A turning aside from a course, attention, or concern: The act of deviating or straying from a main path, focus, or intended direction.
   • A message that departs from the main subject: A digression in speech or writing; a part of a discussion that wanders away from the central topic.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:
  • The professor's lecture was full of interesting divagations into historical anecdotes.
  • The hiker's divagation from the marked trail led him to a beautiful, hidden waterfall.
  • Her essay was penalized for its frequent divagations, which obscured the main argument.

Advanced Usage

• "A mere divagation": An insignificant or unimportant departure from the subject.

  • That personal story was a mere divagation and did not contribute to the scientific report.

• "To indulge in a divagation": To allow oneself to wander off-topic.

  • The author indulges in a lengthy divagation about his childhood before returning to the memoir's central theme.

Variants and Related Words

• Divagate (verb): To wander or stray from a course or subject.

  • The speaker tended to divagate whenever a question sparked a new thought.

• Digression (noun): A temporary departure from the main subject in speech or writing. (This is a very close synonym to one meaning of "divagation".)

Synonyms

• Digression: A temporary departure from the main subject.
• Deviation: A departure from an established course or standard.
• Diversion: An instance of turning something aside from its course.
• Excursus: A detailed discussion of a particular point in a book, often an appendix.

Related Phrases

• To go off on a tangent: To suddenly start talking about a different subject. (This is an idiomatic phrase similar in meaning to making a divagation.)
  • He went off on a tangent about politics during a meeting about budget planning.

Noun

1. a turning aside (of your course or attention or concern)
   • a diversion from the main highway
   • a digression into irrelevant details
   • a deflection from his goal
2. a message that departs from the main subject