digression

\di.ɡʁɛ.sjɔ̃\

/\di.ɡʁɛ.sjɔ̃\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“digression” is uncommon French (frequency #55,196 among 5,307 “D” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#55,196
frequency rank, French
5,307
“D” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Ce qui dans un exposé, dans une conversation, un discours ou un développement s’écarte du sujet principal.

Corpus desk

Index FR-digression · digression · French

digression · rank #55,196 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #55,196
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,307
  • PHOTO-FINISH dimorphisme

Nearest frequency peer: dimorphisme (+1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rangs de longue queue près de « digression »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « digression » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for digression
PropertyValue
Headworddigression
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\di.ɡʁɛ.sjɔ̃\
Letters10
Frequency rank#55,196
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « digression » en français

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).digressiontombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « dimorphisme » (#55,197), « dinh » (#55,198), « deviendras » (#55,193). Parmi 5,307 lemmes en « D », « digression » est au #55,196. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

digression is uncommon French at frequency #55,196 among 5,307 “D” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \di.ɡʁɛ.sjɔ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for digression, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is digression, spelled D-I-G-R-E-S-S-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Ce qui dans un exposé, dans une conversation, un discours ou un développement s’écarte du sujet principal.
  2. 2
    Éloignement apparent des planètes par rapport au soleil.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how digression appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. J’avais une vieille parente de beaucoup d’esprit dont la conversation était des plus intéressantes ; mais sa mémoire à la fois inconstante et fertile, la faisait passer souvent d’épisodes en épisodes et de digressions en digressions, au point qu’elle était obligée d’implorer le secours de ses auditeurs : « Que voulais-je donc vous raconter ? » disait-elle…
  2. Il n’en est pas de même du roman. On lui permet le détour, la digression, l’épisode. On pardonne au romancier de s’amuser en route, s’il nous amuse aussi.

Synonyms

égressionparenthèse

This word in other languages

digression(English)digresión(Español)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "digression"?
"digression" is spelled D-I-G-R-E-S-S-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \di.ɡʁɛ.sjɔ̃\.
What does "digression" mean?
As a noun, "digression" means: Ce qui dans un exposé, dans une conversation, un discours ou un développement s’écarte du sujet principal.
How do you pronounce "digression"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "digression" is \di.ɡʁɛ.sjɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "digression" come from?
"digression" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "digression", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

deviendras#55,193destroyers#55,192Desrosiers#55,190doctorante#55,202

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list