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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
  • Many people would have hesitated before taking them on as tenants, housemates, or clients.
    — Ian Parker, New Yorker, 14 Sep. 2026
  • Watching the spray of flames and the boiling smoke, the hack hesitated for a moment.
    — Peter Wilkinson, Rolling Stone, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of hesitated
Verb
  • Combined, the three had 14 space exploration missions that were proposed to be canceled or delayed, the report stated.
    — Eric Niiler, Scientific American, 22 Sep. 2026
  • Two companies in the AI ecosystem have delayed their IPOs, the latest sign that investor appetite for the trade is uneven at best.
    — Rohan Goswami, semafor.com, 22 Sep. 2026
Definition of delayed
Verb
  • He’s also faltered against the Red Sox throughout his career.
    — Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 23 Sep. 2026
  • Behind the scenes, former Pentagon officials described a rush to strike the deals that raised concerns about due diligence, which were heightened when a deal with rare earths startup Reelement faltered.
    — Eleanor Mueller, semafor.com, 21 Sep. 2026
Definition of faltered
Verb
  • Bethann Hardison, Tara Rudes Dann, and Lauren Kulchinsky Levison were amongst those who lingered over the work, taking in the intricate details.
    — Ruby Ford-Dunker, Vogue, 21 Sep. 2026
  • Fast-food staples like McDonald’s became a low-cost refuge where seniors lingered over morning coffee, students gathered after school and young kids frolicked in play areas.
    — Jessica Guynn, USA Today, 16 Sep. 2026
Definition of lingered
Verb
  • Graham also dragged a shimmery charcoal hue from her outer corner to her inner corner to accent her bottom line.
    — Kaleigh Werner, Footwear News, 24 Sep. 2026
  • Grossman said that as the Iran war dragged on, Washington started to divert weapons and munitions from the Asia-Pacific region to sustain the war against Tehran.
    — Lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 24 Sep. 2026
Definition of dragged
Verb
  • Suki, who had been with her new family only a few weeks, had crawled into an opening in an entertainment center cabinet and could not get out.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 17 Sep. 2026
  • Every window of every building the bus crawled past opened a severe yearning in me, as though my life here had become abstract or theoretical.
    — Hisham Matar, New Yorker, 6 Sep. 2026
Definition of crawled
Verb
  • 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
  • He was poked in the eye and was cleared to return but Darius Curry was moving the team.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 19 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.

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 26 Sep. 2026.

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