desultory en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- /ˈdɛs.əlˌtɔɹ.i/ (US)
- (US) audio
- /ˈdɛz.əlˌtɔɹ.i/ (US)
- /ˈdɛz.əl.t(ə).ɹi/ (UK)
- (US) audio
- /ˈdɛs.əl.t(ə).ɹi/ (UK)
Etymology
From Latin dēsultōrius (“hasty, casual, superficial”), from dēsultor (“a circus rider who jumped from one galloping horse to another”), from dēsiliō (“jump down”), from dē (“down”) + saliō (“jump, leap”).
Meanings
-
Jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order, planning, or rational connection; lacking logical sequence.
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.
1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, chapter 25, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC:The Benelux Customs Union came into effect on January 1st 1948, and there followed desultory conversations between the Benelux countries, France and Italy over projects to extend such cooperation across a larger space.
2005, Tony Judt, “The Coming of the Cold War”, in Postwar: A history of Europe since 1945, London: Vintage Books, published 2010, →ISBN:I teach a class of desultory minds.
He wandered round, cleaning up in a desultory way.
‘Your desultory twenties,’ my mother calls my lost time, trying to make it sound reasonable and fun, but it started before I was twenty and lasted much longer.
2010, Jennifer Egan, “You (Plural)”, in A Visit from the Goon Squad:subject to desultory fire from the enemy
Near-synonyms: aimless, chaotic, disconnected, erratic, haphazard, meandering, quodlibetic, quodlibetical, random, rambling, scattered, unmethodical, unsystematic, wandering
-
Out of course; by the way; not connected with the subject.
She made a desultory attempt at conversation.
Near-synonyms: extraneous, incidental, irrelevant, nongermane, spurious, stray, unconnected, ungermane, unrelated
I made a desultory remark while I was talking to my friend.
-
Disappointing in performance or progress.
As we stood waiting for the departure time with the setting sun twinkling on the great brass dome of our 2-4-0, the sound of church bells was the only one apart from the measured tread of the guard slowly pacing towards his van, and, standing at an open window, I more than once heard the fireman's "Right away!" to his mate in acknowledgement of a desultory wave of the unfurled green flag.
1955 January, R. S. McNaught, “From the Severn to the Mersey by Great Western”, in Railway Magazine, page 19:Near-synonyms: half-assed, halfhearted
- (obsolete) Leaping, skipping or flitting about, generally in a random or unsteady manner.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| more desultory | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic | |
| most desultory | Degree=Sup | lexicographic |
Antonyms
Coordinates
oblique · apathetic · inept · incompetent · ineffective · tangential
Deriveds
Relateds
somersault · saltatory · salient
Synonyms
halfhearted · spurious · ungermane · rambling · quodlibetical · scattered · wandering · unrelated · unsystematic · half-assed · haphazard · nongermane · incidental · irrelevant · aimless · disconnected · meandering · unmethodical · stray · extraneous · random · erratic · quodlibetic · chaotic · unconnected
Translations (38)
mi paihore (jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order or rational connection) · sh rasut (jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order or rational connection) · sh promašen (disappointing in performance or progress) · cs nesouvislý (out of course; by the way; not connected with the subject) · ru беспорядочный (jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order or rational connection) · bg плачевен (disappointing in performance or progress) · hu ötletszerű (jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order or rational connection) · bg скоклив (leaping or skipping about) · pl bezładny (jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order or rational connection) · ru несвязный (out of course; by the way; not connected with the subject) · de unzusammenhängend (jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order or rational connection) · es desganado (disappointing in performance or progress) · lv nesakarīgs (out of course; by the way; not connected with the subject) · uk хаотичний (jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order or rational connection) · sh nepovezan (out of course; by the way; not connected with the subject) · no springende (jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order or rational connection) · uk безладний (jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order or rational connection) · cs roztěkaný (jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order or rational connection) · uk недоладний (out of course; by the way; not connected with the subject) · sh nesuvisao (out of course; by the way; not connected with the subject) · uk непов'язаний (out of course; by the way; not connected with the subject) · ru несвязанный (jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order or rational connection) · pt desultório (jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order or rational connection) · no malapropos (out of course; by the way; not connected with the subject) · de sprunghaft (jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order or rational connection) · pl chaotyczny (jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order or rational connection) · hu kapkodó (jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order or rational connection) · es inconexo (jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order or rational connection) · pl nieporządny (jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order or rational connection) · yue 散漫嘅 (disappointing in performance or progress) · bg безсистемен (jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order or rational connection) · sh nepovezan (jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order or rational connection) · hu odavetett (out of course; by the way; not connected with the subject) · hu felületes (out of course; by the way; not connected with the subject) · bg безреден (jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order or rational connection) · hu rendszertelen (jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order or rational connection) · es incoherente (jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order or rational connection) · nl onsamenhangend (jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order or rational connection)