fits and starts

Those tariffs took hold in fits and starts this summer while the US pushed countries to strike "deals".

Local officials first raised the prospect during the national reckoning on racial injustice that followed the police killing of George Floyd in 2020, but the plan has progressed in sluggish fits and starts since then.

Executives have continued to discuss offering multiple “affordable models,” though not without fits and starts.

It's hard to get momentum when only appearing in fits and starts, but he did a decent job overall.

Negotiations over an end to the war, which would see Israel end hostilities in exchange for Hamas releasing the hostages, have seen fits and starts since the Biden administration.