desultory

From Latin desultorius (“hasty, casual, superficial”), from desultor (“a circus rider who jumped from one galloping horse to another”), from dēsiliō (“jump down”), from dē (“down”) + saliō (“jump, leap”)

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛs.əl.t(ə).ɹi/, /ˈdɛz.əl.t(ə).ɹi/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛs.əlˌtɔɹ.i/, /ˈdɛz.əlˌtɔɹ.i/

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desultory (comparative more desultory, superlative most desultory)

1. Jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order, planning, or rational connection; lacking logical sequence.
   • 1850, Charles Dickens, chapter 25, in David Copperfield:

     To mend the matter, Hamlet's aunt had the family failing of indulging in soliloquy, and held forth in a desultory manner, by herself, on every topic that was introduced.

   He wandered round, cleaning up in a desultory way.

   I teach a class of desultory minds.

2. Out of course; by the way; not connected with the subject.

   I made a desultory remark while I was talking to my friend.

   She made a desultory attempt at conversation.

3. Disappointing in performance or progress.
4. (obsolete) Leaping, skipping or flitting about, generally in a random or unsteady manner.

• (proceeding without rational order or connection): disconnected, unmethodical, aimless; quodlibetic, quodlibetical (in conversation)

• desultorily

• desultory in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.