desultory
adjective
Herman Wouk
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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
Richard Deitsch, New York Times, 29 Sep. 2025
The story, originally conceived by Truffaut, is a thin, desultory affair, about a French hoodlum on the run and his doomed fling with an American expat.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 27 Sep. 2025
In a somewhat desultory Virginia childhood, fishing with my father was a recurring motif.
—AFAR Media, 7 Aug. 2025
My identity, too, felt indeterminate in this desultory period between separation and divorce.
—Terry Nguyen
july 23, Literary Hub, 23 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for desultory
Cite this Entry
“Desultory.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/desultory. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
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desultory
adjective
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