excurse
Definition
- Verb (intransitive, rare):
- To go on a journey or excursion; to travel or wander for pleasure.
- To digress or deviate from a main topic or subject in speech or writing.
Usage Examples
- (To travel for pleasure or study.)
- (To digress from the topic.)
Advanced Usage
"to excurse from the path": to stray from a predetermined route or plan.
- The hikers decided to excurse from the marked trail to explore a hidden waterfall. (To deviate from the planned route.)
"to excurse in thought": to allow one's mind to wander.
- She would excurse in thought during long meetings, imagining faraway places. (To mentally wander.)
Variants and Related Words
Excursion (n): a short journey or trip, especially one taken for leisure.
- The class took an excursion to the museum. (A planned outing.)
Excursive (adj): tending to wander or digress; rambling.
- His excursive style of writing often confused readers. (Prone to digression.)
Synonyms
- Rove: to wander or travel without a fixed destination.
- Digress: to leave the main subject temporarily in speech or writing.
- Ramble: to talk or write in a confused or lengthy way.
Phrasal Verbs
Related Idioms
Go off on a tangent: to suddenly start talking about a different subject.
- The speaker went off on a tangent and never returned to the main point. (To digress abruptly.)
Stray from the point: to deviate from the main issue.
- Let's not stray from the point of this discussion. (To avoid digression.)