tangential

Referring to a tangent, moving at a tangent to something.

• The meteor came in on a tangential orbit and exploded about 8 or 10 miles above the earth's surface, just south of the Arctic Circle.

Merely touching, positioned as a tangent.

• The archoplasm divides and forms a very large spindle which first lies tangential to the surface of the nucleus.

Only indirectly related.

• That subject is tangential to our discussion, and we cannot let it distract us.