dither

Elias has decided to stay put even as prices dither.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026

And while Hamlet may dither in seeking revenge for his father’s murder, we don’t hope that the scheming Claudius gets away with it.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 14, 2026

The housing ministry said it had been taking "tough and decisive action after years of dither and delay" which would speed up the "unacceptably slow" pace of work.

From BBC ● Mar. 20, 2025

Providing this road map of his intentions puts Smith on firm footing to challenge the judge if she continues to dither.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 4, 2024

To dither and dally when the window of opportunity opens means to end up with one’s nose pressed against the glass of fate, gazing with regret at what might have been.

From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood

But the feature dithers in development, which becomes something of a running joke here; the shot of a stone-faced Mr. McElwee watching a ridiculous promo reel is a moment of perfectly understated comedy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026

But he just dithers or pouts or stares at her blankly while the bad guys close in.

From New York Times ● Mar. 29, 2022

The narrator dithers over how much she wants a leadership position in this unofficial hierarchy of casual dismissiveness, earnestness avoidance and radical obsolescence.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 2021

But as the company dithers, its users are organizing.

From The Verge ● Aug. 16, 2018

Tilly dithers in the little porch, waiting to open the door.

From The Rainbow by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence

The air force had flagged the need for new advanced fighter aircraft 25 years ago, but successive governments dithered on the purchase.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 25, 2026

In 2022, 17 years after the Rolling Stones released their most recent album of original songs, Mick Jagger decided the band had dithered and procrastinated long enough.

From New York Times ● Sep. 14, 2023

It was a much quieter affair after the break but Parris was at hand to capitalise as Spurs dithered and were unable to clear the ball from the six-yard box.

From BBC ● May 7, 2023

It’s less dramatic perhaps, but also more unstoppable because we’ve dithered for so long.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2022

Madam Malkin dithered for a moment on the spot, then seemed to decide to act as though nothing was happening in the hope that it wouldn’t.

From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling

The paper has spoken to several publicans across the country, who it says are frustrated by the "dithering" over kick off time as it impacts their staff rotas and bottom line.

From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026

“Fashion is art,” declared the Met’s director, Max Hollein, at the show’s press preview last week, as if to say, Let’s stop dithering on the subject.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 9, 2026

While the UK was "dithering", the US, Greece and France have all sent ships to Cyprus, she said.

From BBC ● Mar. 7, 2026

After some dithering, I settled on my home state of New York.

From Slate ● Jan. 13, 2026

It was a pretense, his dithering refusal—he was one of the most confident people she had ever met.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan