perfunctory

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

As I visited congressional offices this week, meeting with sources and watching members of Congress interact with their constituents, it felt perfunctory — and, in some cases, sad.

From Salon • Feb. 13, 2026

Right there, you have the perfect shadow-docket sandwich: perfunctory, bad decisionmaking, conclusory predictions about what constitutes an “emergency” and who’s going to win, decided in a couple of days, wiping out extensive factual findings.

From Slate • Jan. 3, 2026

It is preceded by musings that perhaps a king shouldn’t have the absolute powers he does—which felt like a perfunctory contemporary allusion.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 17, 2025

For his 27 years at the club as player and assistant manager, did John Kennedy deserve a bit more than a perfunctory sentence of farewell from the club upon announcing his exit?

From BBC • Nov. 1, 2025

The guys were pretty silent except for perfunctory replies to Isabelle’s string of inane chatter about which sorority she wanted to join.

From "When Dimple Met Rishi" by Sandhya Menon