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perfunctorily. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
perfunctorily, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
perfunctorily in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
perfunctory + -ly
Pronunciation
Adverb
perfunctorily (comparative more perfunctorily, superlative most perfunctorily)
- In a perfunctory manner, without interest or concern for quality.
1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:And it was while all were passionately intent upon the pleasing and snake-like progress of their uncle that a young girl in furs, ascending the stairs two at a time, peeped perfunctorily into the nursery as she passed the hallway—and halted amazed.
1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 606:Lim Cheng Po said an Anglican prayer or two, not too perfunctorily.
1997, David Foster Wallace, “A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again”, in A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, Kindle edition, Little, Brown Book Group:Tibor was circling the table and asking each of us how our entrée was, and we all regarded this as just one of those perfunctory waiter-questions and all perfunctorily smiled and cleared our mouths and said Fine, Fine—and Tibor finally stopped and looked down at us all with a pained expression and changed his timbre slightly so it was clear he was addressing the whole table: “Please. I ask each: is excellent? […] ”
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