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
  • Lee hesitated when New Orleans Ballet Theatre commissioned the piece in 2016 as a full-company show-closer, giving her a short rehearsal period.
    — Guillermo Perez, Miami Herald, 10 Nov. 2026
  • Students who were comfortable explaining concepts suddenly hesitated.
    — Washington Post, Washington Post, 8 Nov. 2026
Definition of hesitated
Verb
  • Eight wage claims alleged unpaid wages, delayed tips, bounced checks and struggles with accessing payroll records, the outlet reported.
    — Camila Pedrosa, Sacbee.com, 10 Nov. 2026
  • The murder case against a man accused of brutally beating to death beloved Central Park artist Elise Bainbridge Hill was delayed Tuesday after he was found unfit to stand trial.
    — Molly Crane-Newman, New York Daily News, 10 Nov. 2026
Definition of delayed
Verb
  • When that reboot faltered, climaxing in a nightmarish season-14 finale, RHONY got another, softer reboot in the form of all but three cast members being fired.
    — Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 4 Nov. 2026
  • Initially, local and state leaders considered a relocation plan for some homes and businesses that would get people out of harm’s way, but the project faltered.
    — Cengiz Yar, ProPublica, 3 Nov. 2026
Definition of faltered
Verb
  • Concerns lingered even though later studies showed the benefits of today’s hormone therapies outweigh the risks for many women.
    — Laura Ungar, Los Angeles Times, 3 Nov. 2026
  • Unaccompanied minors entering the state hit a peak of 1,441 in 2021 and lingered above 1,000 each year until last year.
    — Sasha Allen, Hartford Courant, 1 Nov. 2026
Definition of lingered
Verb
  • The Euphemism Problem In April 2017, a passenger was dragged off a United Airlines flight in Chicago.
    — Ronn Torossian, Forbes.com, 6 Nov. 2026
  • The ship dragged its anchor along the seabed for about 80 miles, damaging two telecommunications cables, according to a court statement.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 5 Nov. 2026
Definition of dragged
Verb
  • This year has both flown past and also crawled along at a snail’s pace.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 5 Nov. 2026
  • The lawsuit says Brave crawled and copied content from more than 30 billion webpages in its index without identifying itself or providing the owners of websites any mechanism to block its crawler, according to the newspapers’ complaint.
    — Molly Crane Newman, The Orlando Sentinel, 2 Nov. 2026
Definition of crawled
Verb
  • Buzelis had just fumbled his sixth turnover against the San Antonio Spurs, batting helplessly at the ball as it was poked from his grasp.
    — Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 12 Nov. 2026
  • Kid Rock harvested an incredible elk, and poked some fun at the state of politics in America in the process.
    — David Hookstead OutKick, FOXNews.com, 6 Nov. 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.

Browse Nearby Words

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 14 Nov. 2026.

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