digression

Etymology

From Old French digressiun or disgressiun, from Latin digressio, from digressus + -io (“forming abstract nouns from verbs”), the past passive participle of digredi (“to step away, to digress”), from dis- + gradi (“to step, walk, go”).

noun

1. An aside, an act of straying from the main subject in speech or writing.
   The lectures included lengthy digressions on topics ranging from the professor's dog to the meaning of life.
   History tells us stodgy, cautious stuff, cardigan-football is the way to go here. The 1966 World Cup kicked off with 0-0 draw against Uruguay so tedious the Guardian match report contains a whimsical digression on the writer’s urge to drift off to sleep in the second half. 2022-11-21, Barney Ronay, “Iran’s brave and powerful gesture is a small wonder from a World Cup of woe”, in The Guardian
2. (generally uncountable) The act of straying from the main subject in speech or writing, (rhetoric) particularly for rhetorical effect.
   make digression... by way of digression...
3. (obsolete) A deviancy, a sin or error, an act of straying from the path of righteousness or a general rule.
   Nature... More stronger hadde her operacyon 1517, Stephen Hawes, Pastime of Pleasure, i, ll. 12 ff
4. (now rare) A deviation, an act of straying from a path.
   By this little digression into Gascony, the Duke had an opportunity... to re-inforce himself with some particular Servants of his. 1670, Guillaume Girard, translated by Charles Cotton, History of the Life of the Duke of Espernon, Bk. i, Ch. iv, p. 144
5. (astronomy, physics) An elongation, a deflection or deviation from a mean position or expected path.
   This digression [of the Sun] is not equall, but neare the Æquinoxiall intersections, it is right and greater, near the Solstices, more oblique and lesser. 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, Bk. VI, Ch. iv, p. 288