diˈscursiveness
[f. as prec. + -ness.]
The quality of being discursive: a. of reasoning from premisses to conclusions; b. of passing from one subject to another.
| a 1677 Barrow Serm. Wks. 1686 III. xxii. 252 The exercise of our mind in rational discursiveness, about things, in quest of truth. 1829 I. Taylor Enthus. iv. (1867) 72 That discursiveness of inventive faculties which is a principal source of heresy. 1857 Lever Fort. Glencore xxiii. (1873) 159 Discursiveness is the mother of failure. 1885 Manch. Exam. 12 Aug. 5/1 There was nothing to limit the discursiveness of anyone who had a taste for original research. |