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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
cursory
adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a cursory examination (=very quick and not careful or detailed )
▪ Even a cursory examination of the documents would reveal some serious problems.
a cursory glance (=a very quick look without much attention to details)
▪ I cast a cursory glance over the clothes.
a cursory inspectionformal (= a very quick and not very careful inspection)
▪ He made only a cursory inspection of the truck.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
examination
▪ After a cursory examination, he turned to me and said that we must get the boy to hospital quickly.
▪ Because, on a cursory examination, I would say that is what you've got.
glance
▪ A cursory glance at the literature in this field reveals the importance of suspicions concerning gossiping groups of women.
▪ Even the most cursory glance showed me the crowd did look awfully grand.
▪ He gave us a cursory glance, then resumed his watch on the highway.
▪ Consequently, that child may be studying with a teacher who has given only a cursory glance at these spiraled curriculum guides.
▪ Patients and workers alike gave the Governor and his visitors only cursory glances.
▪ A busy place at which most tourists cast no more than a cursory glance and pass on.
▪ Nevertheless, changes constantly occur as is shown by a cursory glance at the development of local government services in Britain.
▪ Even a cursory glance is enough to show that Picasso had several changes of mind while he was working on the canvas.
inspection
▪ Under Leonore's eagle eye he had examined the suddenly produced delivery note and made only a cursory inspection of the truck.
▪ A huge and implausible fiction - yes, but I dipped in for cursory inspection.
▪ It would be impossible to find out its true value from a cursory inspection, she said.
look
▪ Yet a cursory look at these systems reveals that in practice the police still influence the process greatly.
▪ He takes a cursory look inside, then hurries back to the cabin.
▪ A cursory look at behavior in organizations suggests that Machiavelli is still active among us, doling out advice.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A cursory perusal of my file of pupils' pursuits in both primary and secondary schools shows similar experiences and reflections.
▪ After a cursory search the carrier was waved through.
▪ Even the most cursory glance showed me the crowd did look awfully grand.
▪ He placed her letter, typewritten on white paper and cursory, to one side.
▪ He takes a cursory look inside, then hurries back to the cabin.
▪ None the less, a cursory review of the facts should ease their agitation.
▪ Police arrived within minutes and conducted a cursory search of the property.
▪ Was it what they used to call love, that cursory groping devoid of excitement?
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Cursory

Cursory \Cur"so*ry\ (k?r"s?-r?), a. [L. cursorius, fr. cursor. See Cursor.]

  1. Running about; not stationary. [Obs.]

  2. Characterized by haste; hastily or superficially performed; slight; superficial; careless.

    Events far too important to be treated in a cursory manner.
    --Hallam.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
cursory

c.1600, from Middle French cursoire "rapid," from Late Latin cursorius "hasty, of a race or running," from Latin curs-, past participle stem of currere "to run" (see current (adj.)).

Wiktionary
cursory

a. 1 hasty; superficial; careless 2 (context obsolete English) Running about; not stationary.

WordNet
cursory

adj. hasty and without attention to detail; not thorough; "a casual (or cursory) inspection failed to reveal the house's structural flaws"; "a passing glance"; "perfunctory courtesy" [syn: casual, passing(a), perfunctory]

Usage examples of "cursory".

Did the ghosts of Levantine girls haunt those cursory checkups, suggested by the fragility of my collarbone, or the birdcall of my small, congested lungs?

Even so, she thought it prudent to pull her essence out of her physical self and make a cursory examination of her own body on the diag table.

But a cursory examination by Frankenstein showed that none of the remains were at all suitable for his purposes.

The questions had been asked of him down in sick bay by a jaygee who did only a cursory job, being as considerate as he could of a guy just hauled out of the Gulf of Tonkin.

Not being a sailor, he made only a cursory inspection of the bow, where he found the anchor-a large, multipronged iron hook lying atop a heap of straw cable-near the sail.

As we passed down the hall, I saw everywhere the hallmarks of pride and craftsmanship, from the smallest, polished turnbuckle to the handles of cursory valves and spigots to the brass railings and handholds that were in such abundance on board.

Monk, left alone with Athos, affected to speak to him on nothing but indifferent subjects while examining the vault in a cursory manner.

Unaware that the explanation she sought was presently examining the dead body of the intruder worm, neither of his former captors paid any but cursory attention to Pip.

Indeed, as the Fiver sped toward the heliopause, they left the cabin, and the bed, only to eat, bathe, and do cursory checks of their progress.

Ludicrous uncompensated advances are made to support liberal authors, and liberal jeremiads make it to print without the most cursory fact-checking.

Food was often produced on an assembly line, with automatically timed cookers, frozen patties, and premeasured soft drink servings, thereby requiring workers to have only a cursory understanding of the food preparation process and to know only how to interact with machines and customers.

Perhaps he could pressurise Central into a massive investigation, not just the cursory one we can expect.

Two tankers stood in this space, receiving attention from men in brown overalls who from their manner already knew Charter was around on Sunday afternoon and gave Gerard and myself cursory incurious glances.

He noted the triplets reaction with a cursory glance, focusing his gaze on Amanda.

The hoi polloi of jarvies or stevedores or whatever they were after a cursory examination turned their eyes apparently dissatisfied, away though one redbearded bibulous individual portion of whose hair was greyish, a sailor probably, still stared for some appreciable time before transferring his rapt attention to the floor.