Dés'ul-to-ry, a.

a. [Lat. desultorius, from desultor, a leaper, from desilire, desultum, to leap down, from de and salire, to leap.] Leaping or passing from one thing or subject to another, without order or rational connection; without logical sequence; disconnected; immethodical; suggested out of regular or rational order; as, a desultory remark. He [Goldsmith] knew nothing accurately; his reading had been desultory. Macaulay. Syn.—Rambling; roving; immethodical; discursive; inconstant; unsettled; cursory; slight; hasty; loose.