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Synonyms

fits and starts

Cultural  
  1. To do something in “fits and starts” is to do it intermittently or sporadically: “Martina has been working on her master's thesis in fits and starts; she needs to work on it consistently.”


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Since then, Doustdar has been tasked with rebuilding the company — which he is doing, in fits and starts.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026

I am sure of it not because I remember writing this thing in fits and starts throughout Saturday, but because an A.I. detector called Pangram blessed these paragraphs with a “100% Human Written” score.

From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026

We will lose further touch with countries in Europe and Asia, which are working to address climate change, albeit in fits and starts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 24, 2026

Breaks in the investigation have come in fits and starts.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 2026

But sickle-cell anemia must have seemed the strangest—for it was hereditary, often appeared in fits and starts, and was accompanied by sudden, wrenching bouts of pain in the bones, joints, and chest.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

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