discursive

Borrowed from Middle French discursif, formed from the stem of Latin discursus and the suffix -if, and in part borrowed from Medieval Latin discursivus. By surface analysis, discourse +‎ -ive.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪsˈkɜː(ɹ)sɪv/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)sɪv

discursive (comparative more discursive, superlative most discursive)

1. Of or concerning discourse.
   1. (of speech or writing) Tending to digress from the main point.

      Synonyms: digressive, rambling; discoursive (archaic)

      • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 185:

        This period had long since passed; the discursive reading, the enlightened discourse of her grandfather, had cast her mind in a different mould to the usual superstition of her country; but faith and love were only more pure and perfect in a soul too innocent not to be religious.

      • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page viii:

        This means, at times, long and perhaps overly discursive discussions of other taxa.

   2. (philosophy) Using reason and argument rather than intuition.

      Synonym: discoursive (archaic)

• discourse

• discourse

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discursive

1. feminine singular of discursif

discursīve

1. vocative masculine singular of discursīvus