1
as in random
lacking a definite plan, purpose, or pattern
a desultory search for something of interest on TV
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2
as in rambling
passing from one topic to another
a desultory discussion about the news of the day
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of desultory
The Expos finished 52-110. — 1943 and 1916 Athletics, 20 in a row: Mack (not Mauch) staggered through a desultory August 1943, that included 24 losses in the last 25 games of the month.
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Steve Henson, Los Angeles Times, 6 Aug. 2024
If nothing else, that suggested negotiations were indeed ongoing – a positive sign in otherwise desultory U.S.-Russian relations.
—Fred Weir, The Christian Science Monitor, 1 Aug. 2024
Freddie Freeman provided the thunder in Dodger Stadium on Friday night, lining a grand slam into the right-field bullpen in the eighth inning to turn what looked like a desultory loss to the Boston Red Sox into a dramatic 4-1 victory in front of a crowd of 51,562.
—Mike Digiovanna, Los Angeles Times, 20 July 2024
Meanwhile, the Cougars lost their head coach, Kyle Smith, to Stanford; the Beavers are fresh off another desultory season; and both programs were battered by attrition, with their best players entering the transfer portal.
—Jon Wilner, The Mercury News, 27 June 2024
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Recent Examples of Synonyms for desultory
Adjective
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While there are countless wormholes to be dragged into on a player’s Baseball Reference page, many of them can be pushed aside with the explanation that the reasoning for a level of success (or lack thereof) is due to the sample size making those results random.—
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In the early 20th century, physicists wanted to study Brownian motion, the random movement of particles in a liquid or gas.—
Adjective
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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.—
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His statement came a day after the release of the Netflix series, which takes viewers back to the morning after Christmas 28 years ago, when JonBenét’s mother called 911 to report finding a rambling ransom note and her daughter missing.—
Adjective
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But much as the food is worth is worth your focus, so is the bar, set in a separate building out back that’s surrounded by a wandering Southern garden.—
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In these instances, music can act as a life jacket by helping wandering minds remain relatively present without getting pulled away by the undercurrent.—
Adjective
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Anyone who’s ever thrown a pitch or swung a bat knows that the umpire decides in the end — and those decisions have felt arbitrary and highly personal at times.—
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Misinformation surrounding the new law has led to a resurgence of the narrative that white South Africans—especially farmers—are facing an orchestrated campaign of genocide through arbitrary land grabs.—
Adjective
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They were supposed to begin indirect talks over the second phase last week, including negotiating an end to the war, the release of the remaining living hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.—
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The president then threw some indirect shade at Intel, which also sources some of its chips from TSMC.—
Adjective
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The fallout comes after the 47-year-old’s erratic and offensive antisemitic behavior.—
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Kanye West bought a 30-second local television spot on Sunday night that played only in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Atlanta during the Super Bowl to promote his Yeezy fashion brand, bringing more scrutiny about his erratic and antisemitic behavior.—
Adjective
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As an impressionist, Carvey's style was more, well, impressionist — his gabbling, discursive George H.W. Bush spinning out further and further while remaining resolutely tethered to some measure of loony reality (taking a similar approach for his recent recurring stint as President Joe Biden).—
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His more discursive but no less insightful book pushes back against another feature of Obama’s view of U.S. foreign policy: the president’s deep skepticism about the ability of U.S. military force to achieve meaningful or lasting political objectives.—
Cite this Entry
“Desultory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/desultory. Accessed 27 Feb. 2025.
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