fits and starts
Noun
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Noun
- (idiomatic) Activity which is intermittent, variable in intensity, and prolonged by interruptions.
- Progress in this project has come in fits and starts.
- 1681, John Dryden, "Epilogue for ‘The King's House’," lines 1-2,
- We act by fits and starts, like drowning men,
- But just peep up, and then pop down again.
- 1955, "[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,808017,00.html Old Play in Manhattan]," Time, 26 Dec.,
- It is a stammered, sleazy chronicle, told by fits and starts in bits and pieces, and constantly interrupted by the director and actors.
- 2007, "Australian Premier vows troops pullout ↗," Gulf Daily News (Bahrain), 22 Dec.,
- Paying for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in fits and starts undermines US military planning and risks the gains made by US troops.
- French: à-coups
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.003