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Perfunctory   /pərfˈəŋktəri/   Listen
adjective
Perfunctory  adj.  
1.
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 perfunctory greeting.
2.
Hence: Mechanical; indifferent; listless; careless. "Perfunctory in his devotions."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Perfunctory" Quotes from Famous Books



... which comes of being out of the rut, and imagines it to be the prick of conscience, the still, small voice that is urging him ever to righteousness. If the digression is unusual enough, the drag of habit will be heavy enough to cause the unreasoning victim to return and perform the perfunctory thing. "Now, bless me," says such a mind, "I have done my duty," when, as a matter of fact, it has merely done its old, unbreakable ...
— Sister Carrie • Theodore Dreiser
... having greeted Isobel in a perfunctory fashion which I assumed to be accounted for by my unwelcome presence. "The men of your Fleet Street tribe have conspired ...
— The Green Eyes of Bast • Sax Rohmer
... was diagonally opposite the path. The familiar sign of the bell indicated that a telephone was to be had inside. But the place was still closed. Professor Brierly jotted down the name on the sign. The three men returned to the wrecked house. After a perfunctory look about the scene, Professor Brierly indicated that he was ready to go. On their way to the station he asked Jimmy if he would take him up to see his city editor, Hite. Jimmy, carefully ...
— Death Points a Finger • Will Levinrew
... works its tiny jaws and tongue. Suddenly the comforter slips from the little mouth and baby begins to cry, attracting the attention of the mother, or nurse, or little sister, who promptly, recognizing the trouble, pounces on the offending comforter, which has fallen to the floor, and with a perfunctory wipe replaces it in baby's mouth. It is done just as we have written it, many thousand times, and yet the problem of infant mortality is represented as a vexatious mystery. The newspapers solicit charitable aid, and write eloquent appeals regarding the necessity of sending a few babies to the ...
— The Eugenic Marriage, Vol 2 (of 4) - A Personal Guide to the New Science of Better Living and Better Babies • W. Grant Hague
... good-byes at this, with perfunctory words, and then she left me to join Lady Johnson and ...
— In the Valley • Harold Frederic


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