shilly–shally

1 to show uncertainty about the right course of action <I didn't shilly-shally but instead raced to the hospital as soon as I heard the news> Synonyms balance, dither, falter, halt, hang back, scruple, shilly-shally, stagger, teeter, vacillate, waver, wobble (also wabble)Related Words haw, hem; dally, dawdle, delay, linger, pause, procrastinate, wait; back down, chicken (out); consider, debate, deliberate, ponder, weigh; oscillate, sway; equivocate, hedge, pussyfoot, waffleNear Antonyms decide; budge, stir; advance, continueAntonyms dive (in), plunge (in)

2 to move or act slowly <with dinner guests due in two hours, there was no time to shilly-shally in front of the TV set> Synonyms crawl, creep, dally, dawdle, diddle, dillydally, drag, lag, linger, loiter, lollygag (also lallygag), mope, poke, shilly-shally, tarryRelated Words fiddle (around), fool around, mess around, monkey (around), play, potter (around), putter (around), trifle; hang (around or out), idle, loaf, loll, lounge; amble, ease, inch, lumber, plod, saunter, shuffle, stagger, stroll; decelerate, slow (down or up); filibuster, procrastinate, stall, temporizeNear Antonyms bowl, breeze, dart, hump, hurtle, hustle, scramble, stampede; gallop, jog, run, sprint, trot; accelerate, quicken, speed (up); catch up, fast-forward, outpace, outrun, outstrip, overtakeAntonyms barrel, bolt, career, course, dash, fly, hasten, hotfoot (it), hurry, race, rip, rocket, run, rush, scoot, scud, scurry, speed, tear, whirl, whisk, whiz (or whizz), zip