And sometimes, in practice, things can be very desultory indeed.
The structure of the inquiries was also criticized: "that our abstract is not more clear, has arisen from the very desultory manner in which the inquiry was conducted.
Which is nice for Philpot Lane – except that the extra "public space" made possible by this innovation is as desultory as a motorway services cafe patio.
Hume, as desultory as ever, notes that the dissension in the McCain camp is the "symptom, not a cause" of a bad campaign, and correctly, in my estimation, captures the McCain candidacy as an "exercise in improvisation".
Taking vocals as well as desultory trumpet solos, Byrd at the age of 40 became an overnight success with the African-American audience, but the jazz purists were not amused.
Slipping the new clothes on, our heroes are mistaken for illegal immigrants, unleashing a series of absurd encounters highlighting Japanese xenophobia as well as a desultory dream sequence in which the boys find themselves serving in Vietnam.
They also tend to give the reader a false picture of Peirce as unsystematic, desultory, and unable to complete a train of thought.
Bad wigs and hairy thighs are part of the madness as are a few desultory and tame orgies and a convoluted tale with spies, tramps and dames who adore men who prefer more hirsute company.
Here and in several of the other pieces, Mr. Christiansen takes a story with real narrative and social possibilities and renders it as desultory library reportage.
