Word of the Day:

: rapidly and often superficially performed or produced : hasty

A cursory reading of the syllabus made it clear that Professor Leary's sociology class was not going to be as easy as we had anticipated.

More example sentences

"Cursory" and its synonyms "superficial" and "shallow" all mean "lacking in depth or solidity" -- but these words are not used in exactly the same way in all cases. "Cursory," which comes from the Latin verb "currere" ("to run"), implies speed and stresses a lack of attention to detail. While "cursory" suggests a lack of thoroughness, "superficial" implies a concern only with surface aspects or obvious features. An analysis of a problem might be labeled "superficial" if it considers only the obvious and fails to dig deeper into the issue. "Shallow" is more generally derogatory in implying lack of depth in knowledge, reasoning, emotions, or character, as in "insensitive and shallow comments."