ISEE/SSAT Vocabulary BuilderWordsDdiscursive
ISEE/SSAThard
discursive
Meaning: wandering from one subject to another instead of staying focused
discursive in a sentence
How discursive is used in real sentences:
The professor's discursive lecture moved from astronomy to poetry and back again.
The memoir is engaging but discursive, often pausing for long stories about minor figures.
“Its original designer had left only discursive notebooks, drifting from acoustics to astronomy before returning, pages later, to measurements.”
— from the passage The Open Corner
“One inspector's mordant comment that “economy had produced a masterpiece of silence” was scientifically apt, though his discursive report wandered through parish politics before reaching the alloy.”
— from the passage The Fault in the Bronze
Synonyms for discursive
Other words for discursive — rambling, digressive and meandering — carry the same meaning.
- rambling
- digressive
- meandering
Antonyms of discursive
Words that mean the opposite of discursive:
- concise
- focused
- direct
Where it comes from
From Latin discurrere, meaning 'to run about.'
Memory hook
DISCURSIVE discourse keeps taking detours instead of following one course.
Practice discursive in the app