discursivelyadv.
/dɪˈskəːsᵻvli/, U.S. /dᵻˈskərsᵻvli/ 1. By reasoned argument or thought; by logical steps. Often opposed to intuitively. Cf. discursive adj. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > process of reasoning, ratiocination > [adverb]
with main logicc1540
rationally1546
discoursively1588
discursively1611
logically1620
ratiocinatively1656
reasoningly1761
dianoetically1822
reasonedly1836
1611 R. Brathwait Golden Fleece iv. sig. G [He] Considers with what perill he begun, And numbring them discursiuely in row, Cannot but ioyfully be glad of this, That he hath ended what his heart did wish.
a1676 M. Hale Primitive Originat. Mankind (1677) i. i. 22 Whereby we do discursively, and by way of ratiocination, deduce one thing from another.
1780 G. Edwards Disc. Emigration Brit. Birds Introd. p. ix The whole round of science proceeds discursively, and by a kind of gradation.
1816 S. T. Coleridge Statesman's Man. App. E p. xxxviii In each article of Faith embraced on conviction, the mind determines, first intuitively on its logical possibility; secondly, discursively, on its analogy to doctrines already believed.
1828 T. De Quincey Elements Rhetoric in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Dec. 893/2 All reasoning is carried on discursively; that is, discurrendo,—by running about to the right and the left, laying the separate notices together, and thence mediately deriving some third apprehension.
1933 Jrnl. Philos. 30 623 Goodness can not be known analytically or discursively, but only intuitively.
1996 J. V. Brown in Henry of Ghent 32 An angel does not reason discursively from principles to conclusions.
2. In a discursive (discursive adj. 2a) manner; digressively; expansively.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > copiousness > [adverb] > discursively or digressively
discursively1640
ramblinglya1641
digressively1731
digressingly1864
1640 R. Brathwait Two Lancs. Lovers xxvi. 210 I have a phantasie..that must needs according to the nature of it, be discursively wandring here and there, but never fixed on any one Object.
?1781 T. Pentycross Serm. Speculative, Pract., & Exper. 13 How harmless does it seem, and how pleasing is it, to let our fancy rove discursively.
1794 J. W. Newman Lounger's Common-place Bk. III. 87/1 Unembarrassed by those fetters of continuity and coherence, which sound criticism expects from common writers, he [sc. Sterne] considers himself as at liberty, to wander discursively.
1829 I. Taylor Nat. Hist. Enthusiasm viii. 183 An intelligent Christian..who should peruse discursively the ecclesiastical writers.
1846 E. A. Poe in Godey's Lady's Bk. July 14/2 [Halleck] has read a great deal, although very discursively.
1874 G. Bancroft Hist. U.S. X. xxvi. 533 He [sc. George III] spoke discursively of his shattered health, his agitation of mind.
1913 Times 19 Mar. 8/4 After this debate miscellaneous Home Office matters were discursively discussed.
1953 Philos. Q. 3 362 He passes, rather discursively, to attack Savigny for mathematicizing Roman law.
1998 J. Seelye Memory's Nation xiii. 296 A casual, at times rambling, even conversational display that wanders discursively with a number of digressions.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.1611