desultory
adjective
Herman Wouk
Did you know?
The Latin adjective desultorius was used by the ancient Romans to describe a circus performer (called a desultor) whose trick was to leap from horse to horse without stopping. English speakers took the idea of the desultorius performer and coined the word desultory to describe that which figuratively “jumps” from one thing to another, without regularity, and showing no sign of a plan or purpose. (Both desultor and desultorius, by the way, come from the Latin verb salire, meaning “to leap.”) A desultory conversation leaps from one topic to another, and a desultory comment is one that jumps away from the topic at hand. Meanwhile a desultory performance is one resulting from an implied lack of steady, focused effort.
Examples of desultory in a Sentence
Leslie Felperin, HollywoodReporter, 24 May 2026
Where Bonnie and Clyde glamorizes its couple and their crimes, Loden renders Wanda passive and desultory in the lawless turn her life has taken.
—Air Mail, 23 May 2026
The general topic of desultory conversation was not the dispiriting trial of the present but the livelier intrigue of courtroom tech-dramas past—of Elizabeth Holmes, which inspired particular nostalgia, or Sam Bankman-Fried.
—Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 20 May 2026
There'd be people sitting outside smoking, having desultory conversations, playing games.
—Lale Arikoglu, Condé Nast Traveler, 6 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for desultory
Cite this Entry
“Desultory.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/desultory. Accessed 31 May. 2026.
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desultory
adjective
