fitful
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- fitfully adverb
- fitfulness noun
Etymology
Origin of fitful
Explanation
An adjective that sounds a little like what it means, fitful means stopping and starting, on-again off-again, switching suddenly. I had a fitful night's sleep: I woke up several times throughout the night. A fit is a disturbance that happens without warning, like a tantrum, tremor, or spasm. If something is fitful, it's "full of fits." A night at the opera is a night of fitful pleasures: the arias are cool, but the rest of the show is boring. I've made only fitful progress trying to lose weight, because I lose only a few pounds at a time, and they almost always come right back: my progress is fitful because it comes in "fits and starts."
Vocabulary lists containing fitful
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Grade 12, List 2
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
No other Victorian poet could have brought off such a fitful and obsessive work; no one else could have sustained such music and emotion for more than 100 pages.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 20, 2026
As treatment progresses, if the once fitful sleeper finds they’re sleeping longer and more easily, they extend their time in bed to match their newfound sleep ability.
From Slate • Jul. 19, 2025
We dressed for the day, then returned to bed for a couple hours of fitful sleep, ready to go when we needed to.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 28, 2025
Over time, the late night TV host becomes your best friend, or a figure that haunts your fitful dreams.
From New York Times • Mar. 21, 2024
Here the breeze was fitful and allowed the strings of the parachute to tangle and festoon; and the figure sat, its helmeted head between its knees, held by a complication of lines.
From "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
