DISCURSIVE Synonyms: 23 Similar and Opposite Words

discursive

adjective

di-ˈskər-siv

Definition of discursive

as in rambling

passing from one topic to another the speaker's discursive style made it difficult to understand his point

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of discursive Like members of the Women’s Rights Convention, these outsiders often invoked the Declaration of Independence as a discursive weapon. — Brian Delay, Mercury News, 4 July 2026 The temporary and discursive structure allowed global visibility without institutional permanence. — Daniel Birnbaum, Artforum, 2 Apr. 2026 Real Man Adventures isn’t broken up into chapter-length sections of narrative, but rather brief, discursive essays. — Literary Hub, 12 Mar. 2026 The instructional promise of each episode was a bit, a starting point for discursive, funny, intermittently personal mini-essays that always started in Wilson’s beloved New York, but could and did make their way anywhere. — Alison Willmore, Vulture, 23 Jan. 2026 See All Example Sentences for discursive

Recent Examples of Synonyms for discursive

Adjective

Dylan Young and his Melbourne group fill their third album with winsome and warm tracks whose best moments combine rambling guitars with tales of bruising regret.

— Linnie Greene, Pitchfork, 20 Oct. 2026
After the event was disrupted by an armed intruder, the Administration and the association scheduled a July do-over, where Trump delivered a rambling speech indulging seemingly every tangent that sprang to mind, but his contempt remained apparent.

— Jelani Cobb, New Yorker, 27 Sep. 2026

Definition of rambling

Adjective

The book follows the story of Simon, the ‘wandering Jew’ down the centuries.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 16 Oct. 2026
Despite this informal, jam-forward approach, however, Silk Fence appear to be chasing something; an understated but steady coherence gives direction to even their most wandering moments.

— Reed Jackson, SPIN, 6 Oct. 2026

Definition of wandering

Adjective

If tiny primordial black holes can split, their potential signatures might offer an indirect way to investigate the process.

— Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 25 Oct. 2026
In an indirect prompt injection, an attacker hides instructions in content an AI agent will come across while doing a task—a web page or a forum post, for instance—hoping to hijack the agent.

— Andrew Nusca, Fortune, 21 Oct. 2026

Definition of indirect

Adjective

In other words, the course of this project is insistently digressive.

— Artforum, Artforum, 28 Sep. 2026
As Port falls in with a group of conspirators preparing for the insurrection, the book takes on a hallucinatory, digressive quality, blurring the lines between life and death, reality and illusion.

— The New Yorker, New Yorker, 3 Aug. 2026

Definition of digressive

Browse Nearby Words

discriminatory

discursive

discuss

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“Discursive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/discursive. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of discursive

adjective

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