How to Use desultory in a Sentence

desultory

adjective

• For both Mofe and Rosa, the ambition to leave comes to seem desultory.
  — Teju Cole, The New Yorker, 10 Aug. 2021
• In past elections, this was a desultory phase of the campaign.
  — Dexter Filkins, The New Yorker, 6 Dec. 2021
• The bat snapped at the handle as Devers started out of the box on a desultory journey down the line.
  — Alex Speier, BostonGlobe.com, 22 June 2023
• That is not the case with the men’s basketball team, which has had a desultory season, anchored in last place in the Ivy League.
  — Billy Witz, New York Times, 5 Mar. 2024
• The Astros had coughed up a two games to none lead in the series, losing three straight in New York in desultory fashion.
  — Ben Reiter, SI.com, 19 Oct. 2017
• So King came to the camp and fell into its desultory rhythm marked by the white noise of daytime traffic below and moan of the fog horns at night.
  — Ruben Vivesstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 26 May 2022
• In a desultory performance on a humid day, the Sox were overwhelmed by righthander Joe Ryan in a 6-0 loss.
  — Peter Abraham, BostonGlobe.com, 22 June 2023
• Gone, too, is the massive fountain that, for much of the year, had the desultory look of an empty, slightly moldy, swimming pool.
  — Inga Saffron, Philly.com, 26 Apr. 2018
• The things the Yankees need correcting were on full display in a desultory sweep by the Tampa Bay Rays.
  — Larry Fleisher, Forbes, 20 Apr. 2021
• But Newton couldn’t get the Panthers into the end zone even once during a desultory 17-3 loss to the Chicago Bears.
  — Scott Fowler, charlotteobserver, 22 Oct. 2017
• Thomas played a final, desultory season with the Jets, then went home to Georgia, his life at a crossroads.
  — New York Times, 5 July 2022
• Lowry, once known as a hothead and a man who seemed destined to take a desultory path through the NBA, became the team’s conscience in this series.
  — Bruce Jenkins, SFChronicle.com, 13 June 2019
• The prose, much of it flat or clichéd, only underscores the desultory effect.
  — New York Times, 5 Apr. 2022
• Or taking desultory sips of wine and shifting their feet?
  — Steven Levy, Wired, 18 June 2020
• The other will be for Word documents and desultory Googling.
  — Conor Orr, SI.com, 17 July 2019
• On the soundtrack there was some desultory chatter and the hum of fluorescent lights.
  — Emily Carter Roiphe, Longreads, 22 Feb. 2018
• The largest centre-left party, called Blue and White, has run a desultory campaign plagued by infighting and gaffes.
  — The Economist, 12 Sep. 2019
• The stadium thermometer was stuck past 100 degrees and the sky was hazy from fires to the north, all of which might have explained the desultory performance and the half-full stands.
  — David Wharton, latimes.com, 2 Sep. 2017
• The new stadium, in contrast, has too often had a desultory vibe.
  — Billy Witz, New York Times, 25 May 2017
• Mike Zimmer often makes lists of coaches on the hot seat, and that talk picked up again after his team’s desultory loss to the Cowboys on Sunday night.
  — Childs Walker, baltimoresun.com, 5 Nov. 2021
• Pádraic herds his handful of cattle down a track, in a desultory fashion.
  — Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 14 Oct. 2022
• Every conversation is downbeat and desultory; the days seem too hot, too endless to come to a point.
  — Helen Shaw, Vulture, 23 June 2022
• Yet by noon, life continued at its desultory pace as people began to stir in the dozen structures pressed against the guardrail over the 101 Freeway in downtown L.A.
  — Los Angeles Times, 2 May 2022
• The fourth-year player also vowed to be a better teammate, saying that learned from his desultory attitude at the start of the series.
  — Ben Steele, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 21 Apr. 2018
• Hers is a desultory life that probably won’t get much better.
  — Peter Plagens, WSJ, 7 Mar. 2018
• But the memory lingers of his desultory final set against Thiem in the French Open quarterfinals.
  — Christopher Clarey, New York Times, 6 July 2017
• The final hours of the conference were a desultory exchange of business cards and exhortation to keep up one’s chin.
  — Thomas Meaney, Harper's Magazine, 26 Apr. 2024
• The changes made this offseason were ones the coach was going to make anyway following a desultory 8-9 campaign.
  — Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 3 Apr. 2023
• The Fall toured constantly through its four decades, playing sets that could be spellbinding or desultory.
  — Jon Pareles, New York Times, 25 Jan. 2018
• The symphony of noisy New York, reduced for what felt like forever to a desultory hum, seems to be rising in volume every day now.
  — Washington Post, 11 July 2021

Last Updated: 5 Sep 2024