fitfully
5
6.3
- adverb
- /ˈfɪtfəli/
:
irregularmente
- Around midnight, when I'm tossing fitfully in bed, the phone rings.
- sleep fitfully
While in their beds my grandparents slept fitfully, dreaming of America.
- While in their beds my grandparents slept fitfully, dreaming of America.
- And it was only fitfully, but still, that's a big leap to go from where I was.
Examples
-
The arduous task of nation-building proceeds fitfully in Afghanistan, the Balkans, East Timor, and Iraq.
Academic text (2003) -
While in their beds my grandparents slept fitfully, dreaming of America.
-
At last, her practice began to grow, fitfully but surely.
Academic text (2006) -
What had just happened made him feel fitfully justified in his own eyes.
Academic text (2010) -
The light moves fitfully through the darkness on a path only it knows.
Fiction book (1994) -
The Federal Republic of Nigeria, for its part, is fitfully undergoing its second transition from military rule.
Academic text (1993) -
To be sure, the rate of divorce has been trending upward fitfully for more than a century.
Academic text (1996) -
Katukov was gone all night, while we slept fitfully, trying to stay comfortable in our hammocks.
Fiction book (1991) -
Duncan woke in a cold sweat and dozed only fitfully the rest of the night.
Fiction book (1999) -
She slept fitfully, tossing and turning throughout the night due to her cold.
Synonyms
15
6.0
In a way that stops and starts at irregular times
13
6.5
Happening only sometimes and not regularly
4
4.2
Happens at different times and not in a steady way
1
7.4
Happens at irregular times, starting and stopping
Antonyms
How Steady
95
2.3
129
2.1
47
3.9
5
6.3
15
6.0
13
6.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Fitfully comes from fit 'a short, sudden attack' and the ending -ful 'full of'. Think of a 'coughing fit' or a light that flashes in short bursts, so to do something fitfully is to do it in short, irregular bursts rather than steadily.