Discursive meaning

dĭ-skûrsĭv
Proceeding to a conclusion through reason rather than intuition.
adjective
3
1
Wandering from one topic to another; skimming over many apparently unconnected subjects; rambling; desultory; digressive.
adjective
3
1
The definition of discursive refers to writing or discussions that ramble from subject to subject, or to stories that have a lot of embellishment and detail.

An example of discursive is an essay by a fourth grader that doesn't have good transitions.

An example of discursive is a novel with an excessive amount of character and scenic development.

adjective
2
1
(of speech or writing) Tending to digress from the main point; rambling.
adjective
2
1
Based on the conscious use of reasoning rather than on intuition.
adjective
2
3
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Covering a wide field of subjects; rambling.
adjective
0
0
(philosophy) Using reason and argument rather than intuition.
adjective
0
0

Origin of discursive

  • Medieval Latin discursīvus from Latin discursus running about discourse

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Middle French discursif

    From Wiktionary

Discursive Sentence Examples

  • Demosthenes has at command all the discursive brilliancy which fascinates a festal audience.

  • He was, for his time, a voluminous as well as a very discursive writer.

  • In 1878 he dug unsuccessfully in Ithaca, and in the same year and the following resumed work at Hissarlik, and summed up his results in a discursive memoir, Ilios, upon which a sequel, Troja, issued in 1884, after Wilhelm D6rpfeld, associated in 1882, had introduced some archaeological method into the explorations, was a considerable improvement.

  • The source of all our knowledge is experience and discursive thought, which manipulates the materials of sense.

  • It is discursive and badly arranged, but it is marked by a power of style, a vigour of narrative, and a skill in delineation of character which give life to the most unattractive period of German history; notwithstanding the extreme spirit of partisanship and some faults of taste, it will remain a remarkable monument of literary ability.

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Words near discursive in the Dictionary