by fits and starts
Idioms-
see fits and starts.
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Also, in fits and starts. With irregular intervals of action and inaction, spasmodically, as in The campaign is proceeding by fits and starts. This expression began in the late 1500s as by fits, the noun fit meaning a “paroxysm” or “seizure”; starts was added about a century later.
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.
Past efforts to tighten security cooperation between Seoul and Tokyo have progressed by fits and starts.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 18, 2023
After the Civil War, the breakup movement kept going by fits and starts, over who was getting the rawest deal on you-name-it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2021
But he will, by fits and starts, be able to get some legislation through.
From Salon ● Jan. 24, 2021
“My poetry imitates or reproduces the way knowledge or awareness comes to me, which is by fits and starts and by indirection. I don’t think poetry arranged in neat patterns would reflect that situation.”
From Washington Post ● Sep. 3, 2017
He moved upward slowly, by fits and starts at first, then more smoothly.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
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.
