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
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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.
Like Clara, Brahms, too, had been financially strapped and made slow, fitful progress as a composer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
Now I was lifting myself from the bathroom floor with shaking hands for a fitful night of tossing in bed, a raging headache waiting for me in the morning.
From Slate ● Jun. 13, 2026
A dry wind was already stirring when the sun rose over Pacific Palisades on Tuesday, fitful gusts whipping palm fronds seaward and making eucalyptus limbs creek and groan.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 8, 2025
Over time, the late night TV host becomes your best friend, or a figure that haunts your fitful dreams.
From New York Times ● Mar. 21, 2024
The rigging went slack, tar melted and dripped, the wind died to fitful breezes.
From "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
