Each piece I write uses the word "discuss" (or something like it) about 1000 times. I'll say: "This 10 April 2015 CNN piece discusses X/Y/Z." It's just inevitable that I'll use some verb like that about 1000 times each piece.
I've noticed that English seems to lack a word that's flexible in the sense of being agnostic about depth and about how much time has been spent. Words like "discuss" and "address" and even "look at" all seem to mean that an in-depth analysis happened; this puts me in the headache-inducing position of having to wonder if the CNN piece in question (or whatever it is) had enough depth, substance, detail...enough words dedicated to X and to Y and to Z...that I can use the verb. The verb "touch on" specifies that there was little depth, but I don't like that word and I don't want to be specific; I want an agnostic word that would be used for lots of depth or a small amount of depth. Also, I'm not even sure if "touches on" would be appropriate for some short article; does the article merely "touch on" X and Y and Z?
The big disappointment is "discuss"; that was my go-to verb but dictionaries seem to insist to me that this word is only useable if it's something heavy-duty and serious.
