Erratic vs Desultory - What's the difference?
erratic | desultory |
unsteady, random; prone to unexpected changes; not consistent
Deviating from the common course in opinion or conduct; eccentric; odd.
(geology) A rock moved from one location to another, usually by a glacier.
* 2003 , (Bill Bryson), A Short History of Nearly Everything , BCA 2003, p. 372:
Anything that has erratic characteristics.
Jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order or rational connection; without logical sequence.
* 1850 , , Chapter 25
Out of course; by the way; as a digression; not connected with the subject.
Disappointing in performance or progress.
(obsolete) Leaping, skipping or flitting about, generally in a random or unsteady manner.
As adjectives the difference between erratic and desultory
is that erratic is unsteady, random; prone to unexpected changes; not consistent while desultory is jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order or rational connection; without logical sequence.As a noun erratic
is a rock moved from one location to another, usually by a glacier.erratic
English
Alternative forms
* erratick, erraticke, erratique (obsolete)Adjective
(en adjective)- Henry has been getting erratic scores on his tests: 40% last week, but 98% this week.
- erratic conduct
Derived terms
* erraticallyAntonyms
* consistentNoun
(en noun)- The term for a displaced boulder is an erratic , but in the nineteenth century the expression seemed to apply more often to the theories than to the rocks.
Anagrams
*desultory
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- To mend the matter, Hamlet's aunt had the family failing of indulging in soliloquy, and held forth in a desultory manner, by herself, on every topic that was introduced.
- He wandered round, cleaning up in a desultory way.
- I teach a class of desultory minds.
- I made a desultory remark while I was talking to my friend.
- She made a desultory attempt at conversation.