desultory
/ˈdɛs.əl.t(ə).ɹi/
"desultory" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“desultory” is an uncommon English word, ranked #84,162 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #84,162
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order, planning, or rational connection; lacking logical sequence.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | desultory |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈdɛs.əl.t(ə).ɹi/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #84,162 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “desultory” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for desultory is 9 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈdɛs.əl.t(ə).ɹi/. Corpus data places it at rank #84,162 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No misspelling variants are generated for desultory in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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”). The correct English form is desultory, spelled D-E-S-U-L-T-O-R-Y.
Definition
- 1Jumping, or passing, from one thing or subject to another, without order, planning, or rational connection; lacking logical sequence.
- 2Out of course; by the way; not connected with the subject.
- 3Disappointing in performance or progress.
- 4Leaping, skipping or flitting about, generally in a random or unsteady manner.
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”).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “desultory”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-E-S-U-L-T-O-R-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈdɛs.əl.t(ə).ɹi/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.