desultory

English

WOTD – 7 February 2009

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”).

Pronunciation

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

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Adjective

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.

Derived terms

• desultorily

Related terms

• salient

Translations

jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order or rational connection

• Bulgarian: безреден (bg) (bezreden), безсистемен (bg) (bezsistemen)
• Czech: roztěkaný
• Dutch: onsamenhangend (nl)
• German: sprunghaft (de)
• Hungarian: ötletszerű (hu), rendszertelen (hu), kapkodó (hu)
• Maori: paihore
• Norwegian: springende
• Polish: nieporządny (pl) m, chaotyczny (pl) m, bezładny (pl) m
• Portuguese: desultório
• Russian: беспорядочный (ru) (besporjadočnyj), несвязанный (ru) (nesvjazannyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: nepovezan (sh), rasut (sh)
• Spanish: incoherente (es)
• Ukrainian: безладний (uk) m (bezladnyj), хаотичний m (xaotyčnyj)

out of course; by the way; not connected with the subject

• Czech: nesouvislý
• Hungarian: felületes (hu), odavetett (hu)
• Latvian: nesakarīgs m
• Norwegian: malapropos
• Russian: несвязный (ru) (nesvjaznyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: nepovezan (sh), nesuvisao (sh)
• Ukrainian: непов'язаний m (nepovʺjazanyj), недоладний m (nedoladnyj)

disappointing in performance or progress

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 散漫嘅 (saan² maan⁶ ge³)

• Serbo-Croatian: promašen (sh)

leaping or skipping about

• Bulgarian: разхвърлян (bg) (razhvǎrljan)

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• Stroudley