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What Is the Difference Between cursory, superficial, and shallow?
Let your cursor linger long enough on our pages, and you’ll be surprised at how much you can quickly discover. Consider the entry for cursory, for example. If you surmise after a mere cursory glance that there’s not much to know about a word with a single sense (“hastily done or made”), you may want to hold your horses. There’s so much to find, including a helpful guide to choosing synonyms of cursory, such as shallow and superficial, that also describe things done with a lack of attention or care. There’s also an etymology section, where one learns that cursory was borrowed from the Medieval Latin adjective cursōrius, which described things that were swift or related to running, and which in turn comes from the Latin noun cursor, meaning “runner.” This fact may prompt you to jog over to the entries of other cursor descendants, such as cursorial (“adapted to or involving running,” as in “cursorial insects”) and, well, cursor.
Synonyms
Examples of cursory in a Sentence
Byryan Hogg, Fortune Europe, 23 Oct. 2024
The individual elements of Ka’s style would be familiar to a listener with even a cursory knowledge of rap.
—Paul A. Thompson, Pitchfork, 15 Oct. 2024
Even a cursory examination of this framework reveals the undeniable link between systemic oppression and privilege.
—Ebony Flake, Essence, 30 July 2024
Taking advantage of the rebels’ generally low levels of education and cursory understanding of democracy, Islamist lecturers condemn the evils of Western-style democracy and tout the benefits of an Islamic state.
—Vera Mironova, Foreign Affairs, 13 Jan. 2015
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Dictionary Entries Near cursory
Cite this Entry
“Cursory.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cursory. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
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cursory
adjective
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