Perfunctory

Something that’s “perfunctory” (per-FUNGK-tuh-ree) – from the Latin for “to get through with” – is done routinely and with little interest or care.

Example (as used by Francesca Mari in a New York Times review of Doctor Olaf Van Schuler’s Brain by Kirsten Menger-Anderson): “People [Consumer Reports] concluded, actually like going to the doctor: They like the bestowal of paper robes and the perfunctory poking!”

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Copyright ETR, LLC, 2008

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