Desultory

September 19th, 2011 by admin

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2 comments on this post.

  1. Richard:

    June 12th, 2012 at 11:58 am

    And yet, I keep running across contemporary usage of “desultory” as a synonym for “dispirited” or “unenthusiastic,” e.g., “a desultory mood settled over over camp with the bad news,” or, the couple had a “desultory conversation,” meaning they were hardly speaking to each other, not that the subject of the conversation kept changing.

    Do you think some writers wrongly assume the meaning of “desultory” because of the way the word sounds (it does sound rather dispirited when you say it)?

  2. S F STASH:

    February 22nd, 2013 at 2:56 pm

    Fantastic explanation.
    Just discovered [re=discovered] this website via
    “desultory,” an apparently unctious and difficult
    word to get a grip on.
    Examples extremely helpful to gain and surround
    the contextual connotation.
    Etymology also extremely helpful with multiple
    pathways and connections not often found.
    Keep up the good work on words and totally
    disregard any ongoing waffling. :-)

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