Perfunctory
[pə'fʌŋ(k)t(ə)rɪ] or [pɚ'fʌŋktəri]
Definition
(a.) Done merely to get rid of a duty; performed mechanically and as a thing of rote; done in a careless and superficial manner; characterized by indifference; as, perfunctory admonitions.
(a.) Hence: Mechanical; indifferent; listless; careless.
Inputed by Cecile
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. Indifferent, careless, slovenly, heedless, reckless, negligent, slight; done, but not well done; done to be rid of (without a due sense of obligation).
Checked by Juliana
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Uninterested, routine, mechanical, careless, slovenly
ANT:Interested, zealous, spirited, animated, ardent, assiduous, careful
Inputed by Cathleen
Definition
adj. done merely as a duty to be passed over: performed carelessly or without interest: negligent: slight.—adv. Perfunc′torily in a careless half-hearted manner: without zeal or interest.—n. Perfunc′toriness careless performance: half-heartedness.
Typist: Loretta
Examples
- But I was to learn that the Martian smile is merely perfunctory, and that the Martian laugh is a thing to cause strong men to blanch in horror. Edgar Rice Burroughs. A Princess of Mars.
- Deliberation will be perfunctory and superficial where there is no interest. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Labor receives only a perfunctory and largely disingenuous attention; even commerce is handled in a way that expresses neither its direction nor its public use. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- These socialists think entirely in terms of the factory population of cities: the farmers, the small shop-keepers, the professional classes have only a perfunctory interest for them. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- But for the affairs of statecraft, for the very policies that a Roosevelt advocates, the interest is largely perfunctory, maintained out of a sense of duty and dropped with a sigh of relief. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
Typist: Loretta