What does digress mean?
Word: Digress
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: Digress means to turn away from the main topic for a while when speaking or writing.
Synonyms: deviate
How do you spell digress?
Syllables: di - gress
Tricky part: The word ends in a double s. Digres is a common slip when pupils write in a hurry.
Watch out for: digres, digrress
Memory tip: Let the word finish with a long hiss, the kind that takes two letters to write down.
Digress in a sentence
Example 1: If I may digress for a minute, I want to tell you about my visit to Shillong.
Example 2: Good essays seldom digress, because each paragraph serves the main argument.
Example 3: Grandfather begins with the weather, digresses to kite-flying and ends up talking about mangoes.
Fun Fact
Its Latin parent meant to step away, so a speaker who digresses has taken a small step off the path.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
Our guide would often diggress from the history of the fort to tell us stories about the monkeys on its walls.
a) history
b) diggress
c) stories
d) monkeys
Show answer
b) diggress. Only one g belongs in the middle of this word.
Mingle-Mangle
Unscramble the jumbled word in the sentence and choose the correct word:
Our history teacher loves to gsersid, and one question about Akbar can lead to a tale about his own school days.
a) suggest
b) regret
c) digress
d) repeat
Show answer
c) digress. No t appears in the jumble, which rules out the other three.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word digress as used in the sentence:
Stay on the topic and do not digress into the story of your holiday.
a) stammer
b) pause
c) stray
d) argue
Show answer
c) stray. To stray is to leave the proper path, and here the path is the topic.
Spell-o-Spell
Read the four words. Choose the meaning of the only correctly spelt word:
1. digress 2. elaberate 3. paraphrace 4. sumarise
a) to give the main points in brief
b) to leave the point you were making
c) to explain an idea in greater detail
d) to say something again in other words
Show answer
b) to leave the point you were making. Elaborate has an o after the b, paraphrase ends in se and summarise has a double m.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A speech on clean rivers digresses when the speaker starts talking about ____.
a) ways to protect river banks
b) his favourite cricket team
c) plastic waste in the Ganga
d) dirty water from factories
Show answer
b) his favourite cricket team
2. Which phrase often shows that a writer is ending a digression?
a) on the other hand
b) for example
c) to return to my point
d) as a result
Show answer
c) to return to my point
