A Simple Desultory Phillipic (Or How I Was Robert McNamara'd Into Submission)desultory
SYLLABICATION: des·ul·to·ry
PRONUNCIATION: dĕs'әl-tôr'ē, -tôr', dĕz'-
ADJECTIVE: 1. Moving or jumping from one thing to another; disconnected: a desultory speech. 2. Occurring haphazardly; random. See synonyms at chance.
ETYMOLOGY: Latin dēsultōrius, leaping, from dēsultor, a leaper, from dēsultus, past participle of dēsilīre, to leap down : dē-, de- + salīre, to jump; see sel- in Appendix I.
OTHER FORMS: des'ul·tor'i·ly —ADVERB
des'ul·tor'i·ness —NOUN
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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