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

The level of dish THR pulled up on Turner requires a cursory search of publicly accessible information, along with a few phone calls – easily done but something the show’s producers have neglected time and again.

From Salon

Hannie hands him her papers and after a cursory inspection he returns them to her with a polite bow.

From Literature

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

From Barron's

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

Related Words

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