tangential.

1. Connected to a subject only indirectly or at its edges rather than addressing its central issue.

2. Relating to a line or direction that touches a curve at a point without crossing it locally, or follows that tangent’s direction.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• tangential remark
• tangential relevance

On the page

The historical anecdote was interesting but tangential to the claim about present policy.

Her reply addressed a tangential concern while leaving the main objection unanswered.

Usage notes

Primary category: academic / formal. Forms: Comparative more tangential; superlative most tangential where gradation is meaningful. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: analysis, comparison, evaluation. Disciplines: argumentation, textual analysis. Commonness: moderately common.