hemming and hawing
Avoiding a decision
Hemming and hawing is speaking with hesitation, filled with pauses and filler sounds—the verbal equivalent of shuffling your feet.
It suggests uncertainty, reluctance, or avoidance: After much hemming and hawing, she finally agreed to help.
The phrase can also describe delaying a decision: The committee hemmed and hawed for months before approving the budget.
- falteringBecoming unsteady or weak
- hesitancyUnwillingness to proceed
- waveringShowing unsteady resolve
- equivocatingSpeaking with deliberate ambiguity
- wafflingEvasive, indecisive speech
wishy washy · on the fence · pause · vacillation · back and forth · delay · irresolution · indecision · ambivalence · dithering · shilly-shallying · beating around the bush · noncommittal · buying time · self-doubt · tentativeness · stalling · dragging one's feet
- indecisionindecision, indecisiveness, conflicted, hesitation, indecisive
- foolishnessfoolishness, silliness, foolish, stupid, folly
- dawdlingdawdling, dallying, dilly-dallying, lingering, loitering
hemming and hawingdeciding
Making a choice
committing · taking the plunge · pulling the trigger · biting the bullet · cutting to the chase
hemming and hawinggetting to the point
Stating the essence plainly
cutting to the chase · directness · straight talk · telling it like it is · speaking frankly
hemming and hawingacting
Temporarily holding position
taking action · diving in · jumping in · moving forward · pressing ahead
humming, hummed, hemmed, hemming, hawing, hummings, hemmer, hemstitch, hemstitched