shilly-shallied

verb

past tense of shilly-shally
1
as in hesitated
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 & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in delayed
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 & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for shilly-shallied
  1. hesitated
  2. delayed
  3. faltered
  4. lingered
  5. dragged
  6. crawled
  7. poked
Verb
  • Montgomery hesitated in front of Lee before cutting inside to leave Lee one-on-one with a defender streaking toward the end zone.
    — PJ Green September 27, Kansas City Star, 27 Sep. 2026
  • The governor, however, has not hesitated to draw an unpopular president into the campaign.
    — Mark Pazniokas, Hartford Courant, 25 Sep. 2026
Definition of hesitated
Verb
  • Oura was just one of several IPOs that have been delayed over the past month.
    — Morgan Chittum, Fortune, 6 Oct. 2026
  • In the same week, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman unveiled Dots, the company pulled its latest AI model and delayed its IPO due to existential safety concerns around the very same AI agent tech.
    — Amy O’Brien, Vogue, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of delayed
Verb
  • Washington’s diplomatic efforts to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine have faltered, with Moscow looking to up its defense spending next year.
    — Nicholas Wu, semafor.com, 2 Oct. 2026
  • From 2019 to 2022, Solomon led an aggressive expansion of the bank’s consumer-lending business, which ultimately faltered and resulted in billions of pretax losses.
    — Morgan Chittum, Fortune, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of faltered
Verb
  • Many students lingered afterward, to vent and console one another.
    — Jordana Cepelewicz, Quanta Magazine, 5 Oct. 2026
  • Guests lingered over cocktails, lauding Ghesquière’s formidable creative prowess, personal warmth and loyalty.
    — Miles Socha, Footwear News, 3 Oct. 2026
Definition of lingered
Verb
  • Students sitting with arms linked at the elbows could only see in shards through a picket of shin guards, restricting their view of the area where classmates and roommates were dragged one by one and zip-tied face down on the spring grass.
    — Sophie Landres, Artforum, 1 Oct. 2026
  • As Findley dragged the driver from the truck, Deputy Chase Blatt, driving north on I-35, saw the fire and the driver being pulled from the truck.
    — Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of dragged
Verb
  • In a historic first, two olive ridley sea turtles crawled out of the sea within the second week of September and laid their eggs in pits of sand in Seal Beach and Huntington Beach.
    — Karen Garcia, Los Angeles Times, 29 Sep. 2026
  • The technology isn’t perfect, Walsh said; if Gus had crawled beneath a bush to sleep, the camera wouldn’t necessarily find him.
    — Hilary Whiteman, CNN Money, 20 Sep. 2026
Definition of crawled
Verb
  • Gray-green eyes poked up from its small, round shell, which was the color of sand, and its legs made a soft, scuttling sound.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Flip and continue to cook until the flesh begins to flake when poked with a fork, 1 to 2 minutes.
    — Kate Williams, AJC.com, 21 Sep. 2026
Definition of poked
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Cite this Entry

“Shilly-shallied.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shilly-shallied. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.

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