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hemming and haw
| Main Entry: |
hem and haw
|
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | hesitate |
| Synonyms: | back and fill, beat around the bush, beg the question, dance around, equivocate, euphemize, fudge and mudge, hum and haw, mince words, shilly-shally, tapdance |
| Main Entry: | dilly-dally |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | waste time |
| Synonyms: | dawdle, delay, hem and haw, hesitate, linger, loiter, meander, mosey, move slowly, procrastinate, vacillate |
| Main Entry: | elude |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | avoid; escape |
| Synonyms: | baffle, be beyond someone, beat around the bush, bilk, circumvent, confound, cop out, ditch, dodge, double, duck, eschew, evade, flee, fly, foil, frustrate, get around, get away from, give the runaround, give the slip, give wide berth to, hem and haw, not touch, outrun, outwit, pass the buck, pass up, puzzle, run around, shirk, shuck, shun, shy, stall, stay shy of, steer clear of, stonewall, stump, thwart |
| Notes: | elude means to escape or evade from while allude means to make a more or less indirect reference to |
| Antonyms: | attract, confront, encounter, entice, face, invite, meet, take on |
| Main Entry: | equivocate |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | avoid an issue |
| Synonyms: | beat around the bush, beg the question, blow hot and cold, cavil, cloud the issue, con, cop a plea, cop out, cover up, dodge, double-talk, elude, escape, eschew, evade, falsify, fence, fib, flip-flop, fudge, give run around, hedge, hem and haw, jive, lie, mince words, palter, parry, pass the buck, prevaricate, pussyfoot, quibble, run around, shuck, shuffle, sidestep, sit on the fence, stonewall, tell white lie, tergiversate, tergiverse, waffle, weasel |
| Antonyms: | face, meet, speak on |
| Main Entry: | falter |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | stumble, stutter |
| Synonyms: | be undecided, bobble, break, drop the ball, flounder, fluctuate, fluff, halt, hem and haw, hesitate, lurch, quaver, reel, rock, roll, scruple, shake, speak haltingly, stagger, stammer, stub toe, teeter, topple, totter, tremble, trip up, vacillate, waver, whiffle, wobble |
| Antonyms: | continue, endure, maintain, persist, remain, stay |
| Main Entry: | fluctuate |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | vacillate, change |
| Synonyms: | alter, alternate, be undecided, blow hot and cold, ebb and flow, flutter, go up and down, hem and haw, hesitate, oscillate, rise and fall, seesaw, shift, swing, undulate, vary, veer, vibrate, wave, waver, yo-yo |
| Antonyms: | hold, persist, remain, stay |
| Main Entry: | hedge |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | avoid, dodge |
| Synonyms: | be noncommittal, beat around the bush, blow hot and cold, cop a plea, cop out, duck, equivocate, evade, flip-flop, fudge, give the run around, hem and haw, jive, pass the buck, prevaricate, pussyfoot, quibble, run around, shilly-shally, shuck, shuffle, sidestep, sit on the fence, stall, stonewall, temporize, tergiversate, tergiverse, waffle |
| Antonyms: | confront, face, meet |
| Main Entry: | hesitate |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | wait; be uncertain |
| Synonyms: | alternate, balance, balk, be irresolute, be reluctant, be unwilling, blow hot and cold, dally, debate, defer, delay, demur, dillydally, dither, doubt, equivocate, falter, flounder, fluctuate, fumble, hang back, hang*, hedge, hem and haw, hold back, hold off, hover, linger, oscillate, pause, ponder, pull back, pussyfoot, scruple, seesaw, shift, shrink, shy away, sit on fence, stammer, stop, straddle, stumble, stutter, swerve, tergiversate, think about, think twice, vacillate, waffle, waver, weigh |
| Antonyms: | attack, carry on, continue, go, go ahead, persevere, resolve |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | pussyfoot |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | be cautious |
| Synonyms: | avoid, be noncommittal, beat around the bush, creep, dodge, duck the issues, equivocate, evade, glide, hedge, hem and haw, lurk, play it close to the vest, prevaricate, prowl, shuffle, sidestep, sit on the fence, skirt, skulk, slide, slink, slip, sneak, steal, tergiversate, tergiverse, tiptoe, tread warily, watch one's step, weasel |
| Antonyms: | plod |
Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition
Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
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Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2013 Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
