cursory

comparative more cursory · superlative most cursory

1. Hasty or superficial.

   cursory glance

   5 more examples

   A cursory view of the report revealed his egregious errors.

   Most junk mail requires only a cursory glance.

   But the cursory glance my father had taken of my volume by no means assured me that he was acquainted with its contents, and I continued to read with the greatest avidity.

   1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter I, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume I, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, page 53

   She accepted these terms, and slid off on the near side, though not till he had stolen a cursory kiss.

   1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC

   I may say that that single cursory examination of this awful travesty on Nature would have proved quite sufficient to my desires had I been a free agent.

   1913 January–May, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Gods of Mars”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as The Gods of Mars, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., September 1918, →OCLC

   Synonyms: fleeting, swift, express, fast, expeditious, feverish, fleet, fleeting

2. Careless or desultory.

   The cursory inspection missed several irregularities.

   Synonyms: unmethodical, negligent, careless, derelict, heedless, irregardless, irrespective, lash

3. obsoleteRunning about; not stationary.

   Synonyms: dynamic, mobile, afoot, animate, astir, dynamic, in motion, mobile