desultory Hear it!

desultory Definition

des·ul·tory (des′əl tôr′ē; also dez′-)

adjective

  1. passing from one thing to another in an aimless way; disconnected; not methodical a desultory conversation
  2. lacking direct relevance; random; incidental a desultory observation

Etymology: L desultorius < desultor, vaulter < desultus, pp. of desilire, to leap down < de-, down, from + salire, to leap: see salient

Related Forms:

desultory Synonyms

desultory

modif.

erratic, random, miscellaneous, disconnected; see aimless, irregular 1, random. See syn. study at random.

desultory Usage Examples

Modifies a noun

  • fashion: For ten minutes the firing, in a desultory fashion, went on.
  • conversation: We never really played together, or had any more than desultory conversations.
  • way: He worked for the Daily Express, and studied arts and crafts in a desultory way.
  • attempt: He makes a desultory attempt to clean off the worst of the unspeakable something left over from the party.
  • fighting: Here they spent the next two years in desultory fighting.
  • discussion: Thus is was during 21 minutes of desultory discussion in 1994, a committee of 14 MPs nodded through the Units of Measurement Regulations.

Modifying Another Word

  • rather: The book is not always dynamic or funny, and sometimes García Márquez just narrates the rather desultory days he just lived.
  • somewhat: This is definitely a Modernist product: fragmentary, somewhat desultory, aware of its belatedness.
  • fairly: I'd been to Frontier Land in Morecombe, it was fairly desultory but at the back was an optimistically named House Of Fun.

Used with adjective complement

  • become: After some time his output of talk became more desultory as he continued to fail to make progress.