as in rambling
passing from one topic to another
the speaker's discursive style made it difficult to understand his point
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of discursive
The instructional promise of each episode was a bit, a starting point for discursive, funny, intermittently personal mini-essays that always started in Wilson’s beloved New York, but could and did make their way anywhere.
—
Alison Willmore, Vulture, 23 Jan. 2026
Knowledge itself can be both logical and discursive.
—Bruce Schneier, IEEE Spectrum, 21 Jan. 2026
His palette is light, smudgy guitar textures and warm synths; his message, more gestural than discursive, is love and lust.
—Pitchfork, 4 Dec. 2025
The story of Jussie Smollett had the effect of sucking one individual into a near-perfect storm of discursive tripwires.
—Daniel D'addario, Variety, 20 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for discursive
Alison Willmore, Vulture, 23 Jan. 2026
Knowledge itself can be both logical and discursive.
—Bruce Schneier, IEEE Spectrum, 21 Jan. 2026
His palette is light, smudgy guitar textures and warm synths; his message, more gestural than discursive, is love and lust.
—Pitchfork, 4 Dec. 2025
The story of Jussie Smollett had the effect of sucking one individual into a near-perfect storm of discursive tripwires.
—Daniel D'addario, Variety, 20 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for discursive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for discursive
Adjective
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Flagship Real Estate Advisors The rambling cottages of Rhode Island’s Watch Hill rise like grand dames along the shoreline, stoic and weathered, the history of storms and summer memories baked into their sturdy front porches.—
Mary Forgione,
Forbes.com,
4 June 2026
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Spinella shucks off sentimentality, always showing us Con’s offhand humor and sometimes nervous, defensive rambling.—
Jackson McHenry,
Vulture,
3 June 2026
Adjective
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The film is narrated in the languages of the cultures the characters move through, as Burmese gives way to Thai, to Vietnamese, and beyond — a wandering, collective dream.—
Alison Willmore,
Vulture,
1 Dec. 2025
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Mora will not arrive at CSU with a wandering eye, looking for the next big paycheck.—
Troy Renck,
Denver Post,
26 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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This includes about 29,000 direct construction jobs, more than 80,000 indirect and induced construction jobs and nearly 10,000 jobs related to wind farm operations.—
Jennifer McDermott,
Fortune,
15 June 2026
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High humidity, medium indirect light, and warm temperatures are best for your prayer plant.—
Sophia Beams,
Better Homes & Gardens,
14 June 2026
Adjective
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In return for her weird, digressive, and highly mannered manuscript, Lemann received a kill fee.—
Brandy Jensen,
New Yorker,
8 Apr. 2026
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This is slightly digressive, but Tunde and his lover, early on in the novel, have this big argument in Lahaina, in Hawaii.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Discursive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/discursive. Accessed 18 Jun. 2026.
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