cursory

American  

[kur-suh-ree] / ˈkɜr sə ri /

adjective

1. going rapidly over something, without noticing details; hasty; superficial.

   a cursory glance at a newspaper article.

   Synonyms:

   haphazard, passing, brief, quick

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cursory British  

/ ˈkɜːsərɪ /

adjective

1. hasty and usually superficial; quick

   a cursory check

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Other Word Forms

• cursorily adverb
• cursoriness noun

Etymology

Origin of cursory

1595–1605; < Late Latin cursōrius running, equivalent to Latin cur ( rere ) to run + -sōrius, for -tōrius -tory ¹; course

Example Sentences

Several of the chapters, about particle accelerators and fusion reactors, take readers on cursory tours of facilities that have at best a tangential connection to space.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 20, 2026

Officials have to try to turn the administration’s cursory tariff threats on social media into formal trade deals.

From Barron's • Feb. 3, 2026

And while a cursory examination of the film might ascribe that attribute to the public’s taste for poorly made, mid-tier trash, that conclusion would be wholly incorrect.

From Salon • Jan. 31, 2026

I think you have really surfaced the idea that this conversation about “foreign policy” and “balancing equities” and “harms to the parties” should not probably be resolved in four cursory paragraphs on the shadow docket.

From Slate • Nov. 8, 2025

He hesitated, then gave the book another cursory onceover and brought out his purse.

From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss

Related Words

• desultory
• offhand
• perfunctory
• random
• sketchy
• superficial