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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.

There have been fits and starts of ambitious defense measures.

From Barron's • Apr. 13, 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

The atlas project proceeded in fits and starts, with meeting minutes from 1831 recording, “the Committee was summoned for this day but Capt. Beaufort alone attended.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 31, 2025

In the century since the riot, progress has come in fits and starts.

From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield

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.