desultory
Americanadjective
-
lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful.
desultory conversation.
-
digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random.
a desultory remark.
adjective
-
passing or jumping from one thing to another, esp in a fitful way; unmethodical; disconnected
-
occurring in a random or incidental way; haphazard
a desultory thought
Other Word Forms
- desultorily adverb
- desultoriness noun
Etymology
Origin of desultory
1575–85; < Latin dēsultōrius pertaining to a dēsultor (a circus rider who jumps from one horse to another), equivalent to dēsul-, variant stem of dēsilīre to jump down ( dē- de- + -silīre, combining form of salīre to leap) + -tōrius -tory 1
Explanation
If you lack a definite plan or purpose and flit from one thing to another, your actions are desultory. Some people call such desultory wanderings spontaneous. Others call it "being lost." The adjective desultory comes from the word desultor, which was a circus rider who would leap from the back of one galloping horse onto another. From this literal sense of jumping from one thing to another, we get the modern meaning of desultory as jumping between things without a logical purpose.
Vocabulary lists containing desultory
Behave Yourself! Vocabulary for Good, Bad, and Indifferent Conduct
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And Then There Were None
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"Marita's Bargain," Vocabulary from the essay
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Then again, it’s all too easy to be distracted from the desultory happenings on stage.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 14, 2026
Last night he did an obscure X interview show and seemed desultory and depressed.
From Salon • Sep. 4, 2024
It was a suitably desultory ending for what has turned into a desultory caucus.
From New York Times • Jan. 12, 2024
Once we got to the beach, we would start a desultory routine of sitting out on the sand in the morning, then waiting in line at fish camps in the evenings.
From Slate • Sep. 1, 2023
Nevertheless, Ignatius treated the story to a desultory reading.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
