as in hesitated
to show uncertainty about the right course of action
we dithered all afternoon over whether to go to the park or to the movies and ended up doing neither
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Recent Examples of dithered
Ao Tanaka should not have dithered and conceded the second set-piece so late into injury time, while the backline should have been more alert to the second ball.
—
Beren Cross, New York Times, 29 Sep. 2025
Beren Cross, New York Times, 29 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dithered
Verb
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The international community has not hesitated to recognize genocide in other contexts.—
Faisal Kutty,
MSNBC Newsweek,
25 Sep. 2025
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Democrats who come off poorly in it have not hesitated to disagree with her.—
David Weigel,
semafor.com,
22 Sep. 2025
Verb
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With a chance to win a three-game series at Los Angeles and make a last-minute statement, Jax faltered.—
Dan Hayes,
New York Times,
29 Sep. 2025
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Years later, Rick Ankiel, a Cardinals pitcher, could no longer throw strikes—yet, when he was moved to the outfield, his accuracy rarely faltered from a greater distance.—
Jonathan Blitzer,
New Yorker,
28 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Dithered.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dithered. Accessed 6 Oct. 2025.
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