[ noun ] the quality of being discursive <noun.attribute>
Discursive \Dis*cur"sive\, a. [Cf. F. discursif. See {Discourse}, and cf. {Discoursive}.] 1. Passing from one thing to another; ranging over a wide field; roving; digressive; desultory. ``Discursive notices.'' --De Quincey.
The power he [Shakespeare] delights to show is not intense, but discursive. --Hazlitt.
A man rather tacit than discursive. --Carlyle.
2. Reasoning; proceeding from one ground to another, as in reasoning; argumentative.
Reason is her being, Discursive or intuitive. --Milton. -- {Dis*cur"sive*ly}, adv. -- {Dis*cur"sive*ness}, n.