Hud Bannon is a desultory wretch, a man without purpose straggling through life rather than living it, unable to break free from the damaged familial bonds that keep him tied to his father's failing cattle ranch in a dusty Texas panhandle town.

Source: https://collider.com/paul-newman-hud/

Jim Lyons filed a desultory complaint against mail-in voting and then went back to plotting more lawsuits… against Republicans.

Source: https://www.bostonherald.com/2023/02/01/howie-carr-massgop-moving-on-from-political-pyromania/

More than anything else, the Deep State fears that the Donald may have learned just enough during his first desultory sojourn in the Oval Office to actually threaten their rule should he pull a Grover Cleveland.

Source: https://www.lewrockwell.com/2023/04/david-stockman/nothing-to-bragg-about/

The referendum can still be won, but it would be a desultory, minimalist win that will leave the nation divided for years (“The Yes campaign must abandon its ‘make history’ shtick or risk being on the wrong side of it”).

Source: https://www.crikey.com.au/2023/09/12/nuclear-renewables-needed/

The team's opening-day starter, Kyle Muller, was just demoted to Triple-A Sacramento after allowing 92 baserunners in 47 desultory innings.

Source: https://theweek.com/baseball/1023917/the-oakland-athletics-and-the-worst-baseball-teams-of-all-time