Word of the Day Archive
Thursday August 22, 2002
cursory \KUR-suh-ree\ , adjective:
Hastily or superficially performed.
In a time when most college coeds had strict curfews, Bennington students had none, and only a cursory morning check to make sure that we were alive and in our beds.
-- Kathleen Norris, The Virgin of Bennington
When she handed me the tickets, I took a cursory look at them to see if all was in order.
-- Bell Hooks, Killing Rage: Ending Racism
On most days, however, she confined her daily reading to a cursory scan of two or three newspapers.
-- James A. Drake, Rosa Ponselle: A Centenary Biography
Cursory is from Late Latin cursorius, "of running," from Latin cursor, "runner," from currere, "to run."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for cursory
