shilly-shally
/ˈʃɪliˌʃæli/
shilly-shally verb: to procrastinate.
Verb
shilly-shally (third-person singular simple present shilly-shallies, present participle shilly-shallying, simple past and past participle shilly-shallied)
- To procrastinate.
- "Why, you sees [sic], Captain, your time has come, and you can't shilly-shally any longer. You have had your full swing; your years are up, and you must die like a man!"1836, Baron Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton, Paul Clifford in The works of Edward Lytton Bulwer, esq. in two volumes, Volume 1, Page 633
- "She would have come a few months ago, and gladly: I'll write to her."
"Better talk to her, and persuade her."
"I'll do that too, but I must write to her first".
"So do then; but whatever you do, don't shilly-shally no longer."1866, Charles Reade, Griffith Gaunt, in The Argosy: Volume 2 - Page 16, published by Strahan and Co.
- To vacillate.
- The shilly-shallying performance on domestic issues that has marked Bush's first two years in office is not the result of ineptitude.1991 January 7, Michael Duffy, “The Two George Bushes: At Home—A Case of Doing Nothing”, in Time
- Then Germany lost its halo. It shilly-shallied over Ukraine.2023 February 11, Janan Ganesh, “After Germany’s fall, which is the paragon nation?”, in FT Weekend, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 22
Adjective
shilly-shally (comparative more shilly-shally, superlative most shilly-shally)
- Indecisive; wavering.
- Irwine would think him a shilly-shally fellow ever after.1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter 16, in Adam Bede […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC
Noun
shilly-shally
shilly-shally meaning in Tamil and Malayalam
shilly-shally in Tamil
- ஊசலாட்ட நிலை, மயக்க தயக்க நிலை, முடிபுறுதியின்மை, ஊசலாட்டமான, தடுமாற்றமான, உறுதியான முடிபற்ற
shilly-shally in Malayalam
- be indecisive, dither, be irresolute
- തീർച്ചയും മൂർച്ചയുമില്ലാതിരിക്കുക, അറച്ചുനിൽക്കുക, തീരുമാനമെടുക്കാൻ മടിച്ചു നിൽക്കുക, ആടിക്കളിക്കുക, തീരുമാനത്തിലെത്താതിരിക്കുക, ശങ്കിച്ചുനിൽക്കുക
Forms of shilly-shally
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | shilly-shallies |
| present participle | shilly-shallying |
| past participle | shilly-shallied |
| past | shilly-shallied |
| alternative form | shilly and shally |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more shilly-shally |
| superlative | most shilly-shally |
Origin of shilly-shally
A reduplication of shall I? An older form was Shill-I-shall-I.
Words formed from shilly-shally
Phrases with shilly-shally
Words that rhyme with shilly-shally
13 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about shilly-shally
- What does shilly-shally mean?
- Shilly-shally means to procrastinate.
- What is shilly-shally in Tamil?
- Shilly-shally in Tamil is ஊசலாட்ட நிலை, மயக்க தயக்க நிலை, முடிபுறுதியின்மை. See Shilly-shally meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is shilly-shally?
- Shilly-shally can be a verb, an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce shilly-shally?
- Shilly-shally is pronounced /ˈʃɪliˌʃæli/.
- What is the past tense of shilly-shally?
- The past tense of shilly-shally is shilly-shallied.
Words near shilly-shally in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: shilly-shally (page history and authors); shilly-shally (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); shilly-shally (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-shilly-shally.wav.
Cite this entry: “shilly-shally.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shilly-shally. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.