discursive

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French discursif, formed from the stem of Latin discursus and the suffix -if, and in part borrowed from Medieval Latin discursivus.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /dɪsˈkɜː(ɹ)sɪv/
  • (file)
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)sɪv

Adjective

discursive (comparative more discursive, superlative most discursive)

  1. (of speech or writing) Tending to digress from the main point; rambling.
    • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVII, in Francesca Carrara. [], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, [], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 185:
      This period had long since passed; the discursive reading, the enlightened discourse of her grandfather, had cast her mind in a different mould to the usual superstition of her country; but faith and love were only more pure and perfect in a soul too innocent not to be religious.
    • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page viii:
      This means, at times, long and perhaps overly discursive discussions of other taxa.
  2. (philosophy) Using reason and argument rather than intuition.

Derived terms

Translations

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See also

Anagrams

French

Pronunciation

  • (file)

Adjective

discursive

  1. feminine singular of discursif

Latin

Adjective

discursīve

  1. vocative masculine singular of discursīvus
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