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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

discursive en · ADJ

Pronunciation

  • (Southern-England) audio
  • (US) audio
  • /dɪsˈkɜː(ɹ)sɪv/ (UK)

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French discursif, formed from the stem of Latin discursus and the suffix -if, and in part borrowed from Medieval Latin discursivus. By surface analysis, discourse + -ive.

Meanings

  1. (of speech or writing) Of or concerning discourse. ▸ Tending to digress from the main point.
    • This period had long since passed; the discursive reading, the enlightened discourse of her grandfather, had cast her mind in a different mould to the usual superstition of her country; but faith and love were only more pure and perfect in a soul too innocent not to be religious. 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 185:
    • This means, at times, long and perhaps overly discursive discussions of other taxa. 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page viii:
  2. Of or concerning discourse. ▸ Using reason and argument rather than intuition.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
most discursive Degree=Sup lexicographic
more discursive Degree=Cmp lexicographic

Deriveds

interdiscursive · undiscursive · metadiscursive · discursivity · transdiscursive · microdiscursive · discursiveness · counterdiscursive · nondiscursive · discursively · antidiscursive · macrodiscursive · cyberdiscursive

Relateds

discourse

Synonyms

digressive · rambling · discoursive · discoursive

Translations (17)

el αμετροεπής (tending to digress from the main point; rambling) · el πλατειαστικός (tending to digress from the main point; rambling) · ca discursiu (using reason and argument rather than intuition) · ca discursiu (tending to digress from the main point; rambling) · bg безсистемен (tending to digress from the main point; rambling) · nl redenerend (using reason and argument rather than intuition) · el ασυνάρτητος (tending to digress from the main point; rambling) · sv diskursiv (using reason and argument rather than intuition) · el διαλογικός (using reason and argument rather than intuition) · bg несвързан (tending to digress from the main point; rambling) · fi diskursiivinen (tending to digress from the main point; rambling) · fr discursif (using reason and argument rather than intuition) · fr discursif (tending to digress from the main point; rambling) · el έλλογος (using reason and argument rather than intuition) · cmn 漫無邊際 /漫无边际 (tending to digress from the main point; rambling) · cmn 離題 /离题 (tending to digress from the main point; rambling) · fi diskursiivinen (using reason and argument rather than intuition)