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
  • Trump’s proclamation would have delayed compliance with the tougher standards from 2027 until 2029, though EPA ultimately repealed them in February.
    — Luke Fountain, CNBC, 29 Sep. 2026
  • Flights are delayed, resulting in crew rest violations, maintenance schedule conflicts, cargo rerouting decisions, fuel reallocation and thousands of passenger rebooking scenarios.
    — Abha Dogra, Forbes.com, 29 Sep. 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
  • But one of them, perhaps too slow, or too confused, lingered a second longer, and the claw opened and snapped shut.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Inside a Brazilian stadium Sunday, the same question lingered as two NFL kickers took turns lining up for potential game-winning field goals.
    — Andrew Greif, NBC news, 28 Sep. 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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shills
shilly-shallied
shilly-shallies
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Cite this Entry

“Shilly-shallied.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shilly-shallied. Accessed 5 Oct. 2026.

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