Outward vs Perfunctory - What's the difference?
outward | perfunctory | Related terms |
outer; located towards the outside
visible, noticeable
Tending to the exterior or outside.
* Dryden
(obsolete) Foreign; not civil or intestine.
Towards the outside; away from the centre.
:We are outward bound.
*Shakespeare
*:The wrong side may be turned outward .
(obsolete) Outwardly, in outer appearances; publicly.
*:
*:ANd thenne the quene lete make a preuy dyner in london vnto the kny?tes of the round table / and al was for to shewe outward that she had as grete Ioye in al other knyghtes of the table round as she had in sir launcelot / al only at that dyner she had sir Gawayne and his bretheren
(obsolete, rare) To ward off; to keep out.
* 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , V.1:
Done merely to discharge a duty; performed mechanically and as a thing of rote; done in a careless and superficial manner; characterized by indifference; as, perfunctory admonitions; aspiring only to minimum standards.
* 1918 , (Edgar Rice Burroughs), Chapter VIII
* 1992 , Peter Bowbrick, The Economics of Quality, Grades, and Brands ,
Outward is a related term of perfunctory.
As adjectives the difference between outward and perfunctory
is that outward is outer; located towards the outside while perfunctory is done merely to discharge a duty; performed mechanically and as a thing of rote; done in a careless and superficial manner; characterized by indifference; as, perfunctory admonitions; aspiring only to minimum standards.As an adverb outward
is towards the outside; away from the centre.As a verb outward
is (obsolete|rare) to ward off; to keep out.outward
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl), from (etyl)Adjective
(en adjective)- By all outward indications, he's a normal happy child, but if you talk to him, you will soon realize he has some psychological problems.
- The fire will force its outward way.
- an outward war
- (Hayward)
Adverb
(en adverb)Synonyms
* outwardsDerived terms
* outwardnessEtymology 2
From .Verb
(en verb)- Ne any armour could his dint out-ward ; / But wheresoever it did light, it throughly shard.
Anagrams
* *perfunctory
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- He did a perfunctory job cleaning his dad's car, finishing quickly but leaving a few spots still dirty.
- I caught the gist of what he was saying--which in effect was that he had found and captured this Galu, that she was his and that he defied anyone to question his right of possession. It appeared to me, as I afterward learned was the fact, that I was witnessing the most primitive of marriage ceremonies. The assembled members of the tribe looked on and listened in a sort of dull and perfunctory apathy, for the speaker was by far the mightiest of the clan.
p. 55,
- Alternatively it may mean that a perfunctory search is enough to ensure that a purchase is acceptable, so less search is carried out.