desultory

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”).^[1]

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛs.əl.t(ə).ɹi/, /ˈdɛz.əl.t(ə).ɹi/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛs.əlˌtɔɹ.i/, /ˈdɛz.əlˌtɔɹ.i/

• Audio (US):

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desultory (comparative more desultory, superlative most desultory)

1. Jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order, planning, or rational connection; lacking logical sequence.

   Synonyms: disconnected, unmethodical, aimless, quodlibetic, (in conversation) quodlibetical

   He wandered round, cleaning up in a desultory way.

   I teach a class of desultory minds.

   • 1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, chapter 25, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC:

     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.

   • 2005, Tony Judt, “The Coming of the Cold War”, in Postwar: A history of Europe since 1945, London: Vintage Books, published 2010, →ISBN:

     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.

   • 2010, Jennifer Egan, “You (Plural)”, in A Visit from the Goon Squad:

     ‘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.

2. Out of course; by the way; 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.

• salient

• “desultory”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• Stroudley