SHILLY-SHALLIED Synonyms: 137 Similar and Opposite Words

shilly-shallied

verb

past tense of shilly-shally

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

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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

Verb

The French back line hesitated for a brief second, anticipating a potential foul, but Porro pressed the advantage and side-footed a shot past Mike Maignan in the 58th minute for the backbreaking goal.

— Steven Johnson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 15 July 2026
Family described him as a kind and humble man who worked hard and never hesitated to help others.

— Ruben Vives, Los Angeles Times, 14 July 2026

Definition of hesitated

Verb

Negotiations started months before the expiration date, Acree said, but were delayed in good faith because of new leadership at the helm.

— Corey Schmidt, Sacbee.com, 15 July 2026
More than half of Chinese clean-tech investments in the US announced since 2022 have been canceled, paused, or delayed.

— Tasneem Nashrulla, semafor.com, 14 July 2026

Definition of delayed

Verb

But nearly everything else has faltered, including the president’s signature legislative initiative to overhaul elections by, in part, requiring votes to provide proof of citizenship.

— David A. Graham, The Atlantic, 17 July 2026
The Sharks nearly made the playoffs last season, but, for a variety of reasons, faltered down the stretch and finished four points behind the Los Angeles Kings for the Western Conference’s second and final wild card spot.

— Curtis Pashelka, Mercury News, 16 July 2026

Definition of faltered

Verb

At the Pfizer building on East Forty-second Street, earlier this week, disaster, and the sense of excitement that disaster can create, lingered.

— D. T. Max, New Yorker, 11 July 2026
Because the problem lingered, the break presented an opportunity to address it before the second half.

— Maddie Lee, Los Angeles Times, 10 July 2026

Definition of lingered

Verb

Scardovari, Italy — As the sun was rising, two fisherwomen dragged their boat through the Scardovari lagoon in northeastern Italy.

— Kasha Patel, CNN Money, 18 July 2026
The animation is often rudimentary, particularly in outer-space scenes that are effectively a cut-out of a starship being dragged across a stellar background.

— Richard Edwards, Space.com, 17 July 2026

Definition of dragged

Verb

Hull testified that Robinson later returned in different clothing, walking with a limp, rolled onto the roof of a building on campus and crawled to the edge of the rooftop around the time the shot was fired.

— N'dea Yancey-Bragg, USA Today, 10 July 2026
Their father dismounted, went down on foot, climbed the fence his son had crawled under.

— Emily Ruskovich, The Atlantic, 7 July 2026

Definition of crawled

Verb

It’s now understood that Russia in 2016 poked the election systems in all 50 states to check what protections were in place and accessed—but did not change—some very local registration rosters in Florida and Illinois.

— Philip Elliott, Time, 17 July 2026
The teen said Jones poked his head through the doorway, then returned to the room and continued firing before leaving the apartment.

— Eleanor Jacobs, PEOPLE, 17 July 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

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Shilly-shallied.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shilly-shallied. Accessed 20 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of shilly-shallied

verb

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

raffish

Popular in Grammar & Usage

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Do you 'say your piece' or 'say your peace'?

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words

Popular in Wordplay

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Longest Long Words List

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

Why do we say 'fly off the handle'?

Popular

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

Games & Quizzes