cursory
hasty and superficial, without attention to detail
Word origin: From Latin cursorius, relating to running, from currere, to run.
Cursory in a sentence
Here are example sentences showing cursory in a sentence.
A cursory glance at the report missed several serious errors.
A cursory glance at the data suggested a trend, but a careful analysis revealed no real pattern.
Using “cursory” well
Cursory describes attention that is rushed and shallow, pairing with perfunctory and superficial. It implies that something deserving care received only a passing look.
More GRE words starting with C
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misty, dim, or dark, and therefore obscure
Questions about “cursory”
See these words the way the GRE tests them.
Definitions in isolation do not stick. Sit a free, full-length GRE mock and meet this vocabulary inside real text completion and sentence equivalence questions, with your score and a worked solution for every answer.