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Webster 1913 Edition


Desultory

Des′ul-to-ry

,
Adj.
[L.
desultorius
, fr.
desultor
a leaper, fr.
desilire
,
desultum
, to leap down;
de
+
salire
to leap. See
Saltation
.]
1.
Leaping or skipping about.
[Obs.]
I shot at it [a bird], but it was so
desultory
that I missed my aim.
Gilbert White.
2.
Jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order or rational connection; without logical sequence; disconnected; immethodical; aimless;
as,
desultory
minds
.
Atterbury.
He [Goldsmith] knew nothing accurately; his reading had been
desultory
.
Macaulay.
Syn. – Rambling; roving; immethodical; discursive; inconstant; unsettled; cursory; slight; hasty; loose.

Webster 1828 Edition


Desultory

DESULTORY

,
Adj.
[L., to leap.]
1.
Leaping; passing from one thing or subject to another, without order or natural connection; unconnected; immethodical; as a desultory conversation.
2.
Coming suddenly; started at the moment; not proceeding from natural order or connection with what precedes; as a desultory thought.

Definition 2024


desultory

desultory

English

Adjective

desultory (comparative more desultory, superlative most desultory)

  1. Jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order, planning, or rational connection; without logical sequence.
    • 1850, Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, Chapter 25
      To mend the matter, Hamlet's aunt had the family failing of indulging in soliloquy, and held forth in a desultory manner, by herself, on every topic that was introduced.
    He wandered round, cleaning up in a desultory way.
    I teach a class of desultory minds.
  2. Out of course; by the way; as a digression; not connected with the subject.
    I made a desultory remark while I was talking to my friend.
    She made a desultory attempt at conversation.
  3. Disappointing in performance or progress.
  4. (obsolete) Leaping, skipping or flitting about, generally in a random or unsteady manner.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

References

  • desultory in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913