Dis*cur"sive (?), a. [Cf. F. discursif. See Discourse, and cf. Discoursive.]

1.

Passing from one thing to another; ranging over a wide field; roving; digressive; desultory.

"Discursive notices."

De Quincey.

The power he [Shakespeare] delights to show is not intense, but discursive. Hazlitt.

A man rather tacit than discursive. Carlyle.

2.

Reasoning; proceeding from one ground to another, as in reasoning; argumentative.

Reason is her being, Discursive or intuitive. Milton.

-- Dis*cur"sive*ly, adv. -- Dis*cur"sive*ness, n.

 

© Webster 1913.

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