Definition of "desultory"

desultory

/ˈdɛs.əl.t(ə).ɹi/

adjective
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.
  Quotations
  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.
  1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, chapter 25, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850
  The Benelux Customs Union came into effect on January 1st 1948, and there followed desultory conversations between the Benelux countries, France and Italy over projects to extend such cooperation across a larger space.
  2005, Tony Judt, “The Coming of the Cold War”, in Postwar: A history of Europe since 1945, London: Vintage Books, published 2010
  ‘Your desultory twenties,’ my mother calls my lost time, trying to make it sound reasonable and fun, but it started before I was twenty and lasted much longer.
  2010, Jennifer Egan, “You (Plural)”, in A Visit from the Goon Squad
2. Out of course; by the way; not connected with the subject.
3. Disappointing in performance or progress.
4. (obsolete) Leaping, skipping or flitting about, generally in a random or unsteady manner.

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