fits and starts
CulturalExample Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
SpaceX’s Starship vehicle has had its fits and starts during flight tests last year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 19, 2026
The affordability tour has only happened in fits and starts, however, and the president has not always stuck to the script.
From BBC ● Feb. 24, 2026
Breaks in the investigation have come in fits and starts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 2026
After a courtship that unfurled in fits and starts, they married in 1996.
From Salon ● Feb. 12, 2026
They go in fits and starts, stopping so many times the rest of the Spec is forced to continue around them, parting like water around a stone.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
