adjective

desultory

DES-ul-tor-ee/ˈdesəltɔːri/

Proceeding without a clear plan or steady effort.

His desultory efforts leave a puzzle, a sketch, and guitar practice unfinished.

A three-beat sequence shows one young man repeatedly abandoning a barely started activity for another: a jigsaw puzzle, a pencil sketch, then a guitar.

Etymology

deLatindown

+sultLatinto jump, leap

+oryLatinrelating to

The “jump down” roots led to a name for a circus rider who leapt between galloping horses. Figurative jumping from point to point became the image for activity without a steady aim or method.

In context

LibriVox Audiobooks114:52

For the first few yards of the sap, a roughly hewn trench leading forwards from our front line, the going was good and the desultory shelling ceased.

Everyman at War. Sixty Personal Narratives of the War by Charles B. Purdom Part 1/3 | Audio Book

More examples

Our desultory conversation drifts from gardening to local politics.
After a desultory search for his keys, he takes a break.
Her studying remains desultory until the exam date approaches.

Similar words

haphazard: Emphasizes lack of organization rather than lack of sustained effort.
fitful: Emphasizes repeated stops and starts rather than aimless direction.
halfhearted: Emphasizes lack of enthusiasm rather than lack of a plan.