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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Recent Examples of discursive
But he’s been in the discursive arena for about a decade now.
—
Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 15 Sep. 2025
Kate Zambreno’s Animal Stories, the newest installment in the publisher’s Undelivered Lectures series, relates Nabokov’s anecdote as part of a searching, charmingly discursive meditation on zoos.
—Book Marks
august 28, Literary Hub, 28 Aug. 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
American leaders and commentators often portrayed international adversaries in unflattering and discursive brushstrokes.
—Time, 8 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for discursive
Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 15 Sep. 2025
Kate Zambreno’s Animal Stories, the newest installment in the publisher’s Undelivered Lectures series, relates Nabokov’s anecdote as part of a searching, charmingly discursive meditation on zoos.
—Book Marks
august 28, Literary Hub, 28 Aug. 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
American leaders and commentators often portrayed international adversaries in unflattering and discursive brushstrokes.
—Time, 8 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for discursive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for discursive
Adjective
-
Instead, DeSantis unleashed a rambling recap of the past seven years, with plenty of unsourced statistics, claims of victory that aren’t supported by reality, and wording often designed to obfuscate the most controversial parts of his tenure.—
Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board,
The Orlando Sentinel,
14 Jan. 2026
-
Day trips to Amalfi-style Taormina are well-advised for those who have yet to gawp at its clifftop panoramas across the Mediterranean or its film star hotels, as are jaunts to the rambling flea markets and splendidly scruffy trattorias of nearby Catania.—
Rosalyn Wikeley,
Condé Nast Traveler,
10 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Online research clarifies that the partner is still her husband, Eric, whose wandering eye started it all.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
13 Jan. 2026
-
Capturing the story of a wandering hedge knight in Dunk, or a warrior without land or wealth, and his squire, a young boy, will steer Game of Thrones fans away from the medieval world of chivalrous knights protecting the weak and the innocent to a more realistic portrayal of knighthood.—
Etan Vlessing,
HollywoodReporter,
12 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
From his own zone, Zadorov made a terrific indirect pass off the end boards behind the Seattle net that Pastrnak collected deep on the right wing.—
Steve Conroy,
Boston Herald,
7 Jan. 2026
-
Aim to provide your hoya with at least six hours of indirect sunlight daily to ensure healthy growth and development.—
SJ McShane,
Martha Stewart,
7 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
The result is digressive, elliptical, and occasionally absurd—and yet also genuinely revealing of the mental-health challenges facing pilots and the sometimes brutal social dynamics of the cockpit.—
Inkoo Kang,
New Yorker,
8 Dec. 2025
-
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 Jan. 2026.
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