Klryz
Pronunciation guide: IPA symbols, stress and word endings

Vowels

iːseeɪsite / ɛbedæcat
ɑːfatherɒhot (UK)ɔːlawʊput
uːtooʌcupɜːbirdəabout
eɪdayaɪmyɔɪboyaʊnow
əʊ / oʊgo (UK / US)ɪəneareəhairʊətour

Consonants that look unusual

θthinðthisʃsheʒmeasure
tʃchurchdʒjudgeŋsingjyes

p b t d k g f v s z h m n l r w sound as in ordinary English spelling.

Marks

  • ˈ main stress, before the stressed syllable: /ˈwɔːtə/ water · ˌ lighter (secondary) stress: /ˌʌndəˈstænd/ understand
  • ː a long vowel · (r) an r said only in accents that pronounce it (most American, Scottish, Irish)

Common word endings

  • -s / -es (plurals; he/she form of verbs): /s/ after voiceless sounds (cats), /z/ after voiced (dogs), /ɪz/ after s, z, sh, ch, j sounds (buses, watches). Spelling: -es after s, x, z, ch, sh; consonant + y → -ies (city → cities).
  • -ed (past): /t/ after voiceless sounds (walked), /d/ after voiced (played), /ɪd/ after t or d (wanted). Spelling: love → loved, stop → stopped, carry → carried.
  • -ing: make → making, run → running, see → seeing.
  • Irregular: go, went, gone · be, was, been · see, saw, seen · man → men · child → children · mouse → mice.
  • Older (King James) forms: -eth = -s (he loveth = he loves) · -est with “thou” (thou lovest) · spake = spoke.

English Dictionary · 107,383 entries · Sources & licences

desultory

UK /ˈdɛs.əl.t(ə).ɹi/ · US /ˈdɛs.əlˌtɔɹ.i/ adjective

  1. adjective Jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order, planning, or rational connection; lacking logical sequence. “He wandered round, cleaning up in a desultory way.”
  2. adjective Out of course; by the way; not connected with the subject. “I made a desultory remark while I was talking to my friend.”
  3. adjective Disappointing in performance or progress.
  4. adjective (obsolete) Leaping, skipping or flitting about, generally in a random or unsteady manner.

Synonyms

aimless chaotic disconnected erratic haphazard meandering quodlibetic quodlibetical random rambling scattered unmethodical unsystematic wandering extraneous incidental irrelevant nongermane spurious stray

Antonyms

apropos germane relevant

Etymology

From Latin dēsultōrius (“hasty, casual, superficial”), from dēsultor (“a circus rider who jumped from one galloping horse to another”), from dēsiliō (“jump down”), from dē (“down”) + saliō (“jump, leap”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. adjective Leaping or skipping about. [Obs.]
  2. adjective Jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order or rational connection; without logical sequence; disconnected; immethodical; aimless; as, desultory minds. Atterbury.

Etymology [L. desultorius, fr. desultor a leaper, fr. desilire, desultum, to leap down; de + salire to leap. See Saltation.]

Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “desultory”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details

Sanskrit

Sanskrit dictionary entries whose meaning includes “desultory” (best matches first).