go/fly off at a tangent
UK (US go off on a tangent)Definition
› to suddenly start talking or thinking about a completely new subject: It's hard to get a firm decision out of him - he's always going off at a tangent.Digressing and being indirect or evasiveMoving in order to avoid contactNot saying much
(Definition of go/fly off at a tangent from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus
© Cambridge University Press)
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go/be run to ground idiom
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go/come up in the world idiom
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go/come with the territory idiom
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go/fall to pieces idiom
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go/get back to nature idiom
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go/get/head nowhere idiom
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go/jump through hoops idiom
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go/run round in circles idiom
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SMART Thesaurus
Synonyms and related words:
- beat around the bush idiom
- circumlocution noun
- discursive adjective
- elliptical adjective (LANGUAGE)
- evade verb
- evasive adjective
- gloss over sth phrasal verb
- go (all) round the houses idiom
- indirect adjective (NOT OBVIOUS)
- mealy-mouthed adjective
- meander verb (NO PURPOSE)
- oblique adjective (NOT DIRECT)
- parry verb
- prevaricate verb
- roundabout adjective
- sanitize verb (CHANGE)
- sidestep verb
- tiptoe round/around sth/sb phrasal verb
- underlying adjective (NOT OBVIOUS)
- wander verb (SUBJECT)
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