All 3 Uses of
perfunctory
in
Tess of the d'Urbervilles
- She thereupon turned round and lifted her face to his, and remained like a marble term while he imprinted a kiss upon her cheek—half perfunctorily, half as if zest had not yet quite died out.†
Chpt 2 *perfunctorily = without much interest or effort
- These and other of his words were nothing but the perfunctory babble of the surface while the depths remained paralyzed.†
Chpt 5
- Up here also the shutters were tightly closed, the ventilation being perfunctorily done, for this day at least, by opening the hall-window in front and an upper window behind.†
Chpt 7perfunctorily = without much interest or effort
Definition:
done without much interest or effort -- especially as when dispensing with a formality