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

"In the past we haven't seen that. We've seen years of dither and delay, legal challenges."

From BBC ● Dec. 11, 2024

Now that “Honest Abe” Lincoln had won the presidency, the South was in a dither.

From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan

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

But as the company dithers, its users are organizing.

From The Verge ● Aug. 16, 2018

But it tends to defeat efficient compression, because the very thing that dithers to reduce moire patterns also tends to work against compression schemes.

From Library of Congress Workshop on Etexts by Library of Congress

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

He advocated for the breaching of four massive dams on the Snake River to restore salmon habitats, and he had little patience for politicians who dithered rather than act to save the whales.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 16, 2022

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

Eric, having dithered about joining, had finally committed himself, and now wore a badge proudly.

From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman

“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

Also speaking on The Sunday Show, Swinney called on the UK government to "stop dithering" and "get on with taking some decision" about reducing energy costs.

From BBC ● Mar. 15, 2026

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

From Slate ● Jan. 13, 2026

It would rather binge-watch thousands of hours of trashy TV shows than deal with the dithering crew of space hippies to which it’s been assigned.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2025

For Teller, however, it replicated the unfocused dithering he had been grousing about.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik