dis·cur·sive / disˈkərsiv/ • adj. 1. digressing from subject to subject: students often write dull, secondhand, discursive prose. ∎  (of a style of speech or writing) fluent and expansive rather than formulaic or abbreviated: the short story is concentrated, whereas the novel is discursive.2. of or relating to discourse or modes of discourse: the attempt to transform utterances from one discursive context to another.3. archaic Philos. proceeding by argument or reasoning rather than by intuition.DERIVATIVES: dis·cur·sive·ly adv.dis·cur·sive·ness n.

discursive passing rapidly from one thing to another XVI; ratiocinative XVII. — medL. discursīvus, f. discurs-; see DISCOURSE, -IVE.