Desultory Meaning and Usage

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Adjective

- lacking connection; aimless; random; haphazard; “desultory conversation”; “a desultory remark”

- moving from one subject to another without logical connection; lacking in relevance; “a desultory speech”

- lacking in consistency; disconnected

- Having no set plan; haphazard or random. “a desultory thought”


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Derivatives:

Desultorious - Adjective
Desultoriness - Noun
Desultorily - Adverb


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Use Desultory in a sentence:

1. A few young women were walking along, pushing baby-carriages in pairs and talking desultorily, but the street was otherwise deserted.

2. The professor’s lecture seemed desultory, having no connection to anything the class was studying.

3. Diane had a desultory academic record; she had changed majors 12 times in 3 years.

4. She put the cat down. It walked slowly toward the hearth, where a late fire lazed, desultorily eating at a single log.

5. Mike's desultory ramblings worsened as his disease progressed.

6. They talked desultorily of unimportant things, and every minute found Freddie more convinced that Nelly was not as other girls. He felt that he must see more of her.

7. There were a few moments of desultory conversation, of the kind that usually follows an introduction.

8. Psmith, who had played cricket in a rather desultory way at the University, had not risen to the heights Mike had achieved.

9. He got tea ready, making desultory conversation the while, as if there were no particular reason why either of them should feel uncomfortable in the other's presence.

10. On the way into the little resort town, his mother driving with squinty-eyed concentration, Jack had seen only one person on the streets – a mad old man desultorily pushing an empty cart along the sidewalk.

11. The man's desultory attempts at finding employment wasted his time.

12. In a desultory way he had read a good deal of philosophy, and he looked forward with delight to the leisure of the next few months.


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Synonyms:
aimless, chance, chaotic, cursory, devious, digressing, disconnected, discursive, disorderly, disorganized, erratic, fitful, haphazard, inconsistent, inconstant, indiscriminate, irregular, loose, maundering, objectless, pointless, purposeless, rambling, random, shifting, shifty, spasmodic, spot, stray, superficial, unconsidered, unorganized, unplanned, unsettled, unstable, unsteady, unsystematic, vague, wavering

Antonyms:
Concentrated, Methodical, Firm, Steady, Constant, Regular, Stable, Fixed, Determined, Immovable, Rooted, Anchored, Steadfast, Unyielding, Strict

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Origin:

Often Roman soldiers would go into battle with two horses so that when one horse tired, the soldier could leap to the second horse striding alongside. This person became known as a desultor, or leaper. The term evolved since this leaper only stayed on one horse for a short amount of time before becoming disconnected and jumping to the other horse.

The Latin adjective "desultorius," the parent of "desultory," was also by the ancients to refer to a circus performer (called a "desultor") whose trick was to leap from horse to horse without stopping. It makes sense, therefore, that someone or something "desultory" jumps from one thing to another. ("Desultor" and "desultorius" are derived from the Latin verb "salire," which means "to leap.")

A desultory conversation leaps from one topic to another, and doesn't have a distinct point or direction. A desultory student skips from one subject to another without applying serious effort to anyone. A desultory comment is a digressive one that jumps away from the topic at hand. And a desultory performance is one resulting from an implied lack of steady, focused effort.

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Some more examples:

1. Philip saw several fellows with a desultory, timid look dawdling around, and surmised that, like himself, they were there for the first time.

2. He made no more than a desultory effort to stop smoking.

3. Psmith, leaning against the mantlepiece, discoursed in a desultory way on the day's happenings.

4. The countries engaged in intermittent, desultory warfare for decades.

5. The thefts were occurring in a desultory manner making them difficult to track.

6. After a desultory year at Cabrillo College near Santa Cruz, McCarthy joined the Army in May.

7. He wandered round, cleaning up in a desultory way.

8. His studies are very desultory and eccentric, but he has amassed a lot of out-of-the-way knowledge which would astonish his professors

9. The day was so hot that everyone went about their chores in a desultory fashion.

10. “I trust I may be excused for desiring an interval of complete freedom from such distractions as have been hitherto inevitable, and especially from guests whose desultory vivacity makes their presence a fatigue.”

11. “In the afternoon it grew very hot. Work did not proceed so actively and conversation halted. The incessant chatter of the morning dwindled now to desultory remarks.”

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