fitful

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Adjective

fitful

1. Irregular; unsteady; characterized by fits.

   His breathing was fitful.

   • 1605, Shakespeare, Macbeth, act III

     […] Duncan is in his grave;

     After life's fitful fever he sleeps well;

   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, chapter 123

     The cabin lamp—taking long swings this way and that— was burning fitfully, and casting fitful shadows upon the old man’s bolted door [...]

   • 2012, The Economist, [http://www.economist.com/news/britain/21565270-britain-emerges-its-second-recession-four-years-don’t-say-“green-shoots” The economy: Don’t say “green shoots”]

     So fitful has Britain’s economy been that any good news is understandably snatched at.

Synonyms

• intermittent, spasmodic; see also Thesaurus:discontinuous

Translations

• French: irrégulier, sporadique
• German: unregelmäßig
• Russian: судорожный
• Spanish: irregular, inestable

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