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 Royal College of Nursing has called for a "significant pay rise" and accused UK ministers of "dither and delay".

From BBC ● Apr. 8, 2025

Among bereaved families, there is widespread dismay that successive governments have chosen to dither and delay when the consequences of inaction has been further lost lives.

From BBC ● Jan. 11, 2025

When Sunday actually came around, I was in a real dither over my date.

From "Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High" by Melba Pattillo Beals

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 as Jacy dithers and stalls in the July heat, so does the story, even as it wends toward the feverish, improbable rush of its climax.

From New York Times ● May 25, 2023

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

Foster dithers over a clearance, the ball at his feet.

From The Guardian ● Nov. 30, 2019

His eyes wink and sparkle in the huge white clump that dithers on his shoulders—a clump reddish on each side, where the ears were.

From Under Fire: the story of a squad by Fitzwater Wray

Other major cities have had formal infrastructure plans for years, while L.A. has ducked and dithered.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 16, 2026

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

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

While Washington dithered, he appeared to place risky bets that incinerated his fortune, jeopardized billions of dollars in Silicon Valley capital and upended an entire ecosystem of cryptocurrency start-ups.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 17, 2022

Maddie was the only passenger to get off at Castle Craig, and after she’d dithered on the platform for five minutes, the stationmaster came out to greet her personally.

From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein

That crumb of optimism was swept away when Vini capitalised on a second outbreak of world-class dithering in front of their own goal.

From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026

"The reason that he's dithering is because he doesn't know where the money is coming from," she said.

From BBC ● Jun. 10, 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

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