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
All this becomes a bit discursive, and frankly, dull — almost like a coastal Carlos Saura family portrait without the politics and without the clean lines and character definition to make the sprawl of relatives especially interesting.
—
David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
And it’s also arrived at a particular moment, in a particular discursive world, in which opinions are strong, objections are instant, and differences are emphasized.
—Joshua Rothman, New Yorker, 27 May 2025
Set entirely in Linda’s Manhattan apartment, the film freely and imaginatively recreates that long-ago afternoon and the wonderfully discursive exchange between these two singular individuals.
—Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 4 Feb. 2025
There’s a discursive ramble about ordering Chinese food that takes on a strange power.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 27 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for discursive
David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
And it’s also arrived at a particular moment, in a particular discursive world, in which opinions are strong, objections are instant, and differences are emphasized.
—Joshua Rothman, New Yorker, 27 May 2025
Set entirely in Linda’s Manhattan apartment, the film freely and imaginatively recreates that long-ago afternoon and the wonderfully discursive exchange between these two singular individuals.
—Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 4 Feb. 2025
There’s a discursive ramble about ordering Chinese food that takes on a strange power.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 27 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for discursive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for discursive
Adjective
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Refine your key points to be clear and concise—no rambling monologues.—
Expert Panel®,
Forbes.com,
15 Apr. 2025
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In the early morning hours of Dec. 26, 1996, Patsy Ramsey called 911 to report her 6-year-old daughter JonBenét missing, and found a rambling ransom note left inside their Boulder, Colorado, home.—
Erin Moriarty,
CBS News,
20 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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His wandering eye soon focused on a mutual friend, the American heiress Pauline Pfeiffer, and the two began an affair.—
Tony Perrottet,
Smithsonian Magazine,
30 June 2025
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The wandering crocs are not the only examples of animals that were able to survive on islands far longer than on the mainland.—
Riley Black,
Smithsonian Magazine,
25 June 2025
Adjective
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But the indirect benefits seem to reflect a posture against green energy, related to unbelief in climate change, and these lead to support for inefficient energy alternatives like nuclear and geothermal and gas-fired turbines.—
Ian Dexter Palmer,
Forbes.com,
14 July 2025
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The indirect talks over a U.S. proposal for a 60-day ceasefire are being held in Doha, but optimism that surfaced last week of a looming deal has largely faded, with both sides accusing each other of intransigence.—
Crispian Balmer,
USA Today,
13 July 2025
Adjective
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The path to achieving this goal was already a digressive one, weaving together singing competitions, cloned dogs and a bald-capped Fielder breastfeeding from a giant puppet.—
Alison Herman,
Variety,
26 May 2025
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The tabloid reader commuting home on the No. 4 train was given the same all-access pass to his protean intellect and lyrical, digressive sentences as the Park Avenue neighbor of William F. Buckley’s reading him, fireside, in the more rarefied outlets.—
Ginia Bellafante,
New York Times,
16 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Discursive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/discursive. Accessed 18 Jul. 2025.
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