fitful
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of fitful
Explanation
An adjective that sounds a little like what it means, fitful means stopping and starting, on-again off-again, switching suddenly. I had a fitful night's sleep: I woke up several times throughout the night. A fit is a disturbance that happens without warning, like a tantrum, tremor, or spasm. If something is fitful, it's "full of fits." A night at the opera is a night of fitful pleasures: the arias are cool, but the rest of the show is boring. I've made only fitful progress trying to lose weight, because I lose only a few pounds at a time, and they almost always come right back: my progress is fitful because it comes in "fits and starts."
Vocabulary lists containing fitful
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Touching Spirit Bear
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Grade 12, List 2
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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.
My entry into the world of wearable fitness, as with much new technology, was grudging, fitful and ultimately all consuming.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 29, 2026
As treatment progresses, if the once fitful sleeper finds they’re sleeping longer and more easily, they extend their time in bed to match their newfound sleep ability.
From Slate • Jul. 19, 2025
We dressed for the day, then returned to bed for a couple hours of fitful sleep, ready to go when we needed to.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 28, 2025
It caps weeks of fitful indirect negotiations and sets the stage for a tense period that could determine the course of the war, already in its seventh week.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 22, 2023
I wake up after a fitful night to the sound of urgent whispering on the other side of the door.
From "Linked" by Gordon Korman
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.
