| Main Entry: | blow hot and cold |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | keep off and on |
Synonyms: |
be on the fence, change one's mind, chop and change, flip-flop, fluctuate, vacillate, will and will not, wobble about |
| Main Entry: | alternate |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | take turns, change back and forth |
Synonyms: |
act reciprocally, alter, blow hot and cold, change, come and go, exchange, fill in for, fluctuate, follow, follow in turn, interchange, intersperse, oscillate, relieve, rotate, seesaw, shift, shilly-shally, substitute, sway, vacillate, vary, waver, yo-yo |
| Notes: | alternate means 'one after the other' or 'each succeeding the other in turn, especially continuously' and alternative means 'one instead of the other' or 'allowing or necessitating a choice between two or more things' |
Antonyms: |
continue |
| Main Entry: | equivocate |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | avoid an issue |
Synonyms: |
beat around the bush, beg the question, blow hot and cold, cavil, cloud the issue, con, cop a plea, cop out, cover up, dodge, double-talk, elude, escape, eschew, evade, falsify, fence, fib, flip-flop, fudge, give run around, hedge, hem and haw, jive, lie, mince words, palter, parry, pass the buck, prevaricate, pussyfoot, quibble, run around, shuck, shuffle, sidestep, sit on the fence, stonewall, tell white lie, tergiversate, tergiverse, waffle, weasel |
Antonyms: |
face, meet, speak on |
| Main Entry: | fluctuate |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | vacillate, change |
Synonyms: |
alter, alternate, be undecided, blow hot and cold, ebb and flow, flutter, go up and down, hem and haw, hesitate, oscillate, rise and fall, seesaw, shift, swing, undulate, vary, veer, vibrate, wave, waver, yo-yo |
Antonyms: |
hold, persist, remain, stay |
| Main Entry: | hedge |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | avoid, dodge |
Synonyms: |
be noncommittal, beat around the bush, blow hot and cold, cop a plea, cop out, duck, equivocate, evade, flip-flop, fudge, give the run around, hem and haw, jive, pass the buck, prevaricate, pussyfoot, quibble, run around, shilly-shally, shuck, shuffle, sidestep, sit on the fence, stall, stonewall, temporize, tergiversate, tergiverse, waffle |
Antonyms: |
confront, face, meet |
| Main Entry: | hesitate |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | wait; be uncertain |
Synonyms: |
alternate, balance, balk, be irresolute, be reluctant, be unwilling, blow hot and cold, dally, debate, defer, delay, demur, dillydally, dither, doubt, equivocate, falter, flounder, fluctuate, fumble, hang back, hang*, hedge, hem and haw, hold back, hold off, hover, linger, oscillate, pause, ponder, pull back, pussyfoot, scruple, seesaw, shift, shrink, shy away, sit on fence, stammer, stop, straddle, stumble, stutter, swerve, tergiversate, think about, think twice, vacillate, waffle, waver, weigh |
Antonyms: |
attack, carry on, continue, go, go ahead, persevere, resolve |
| Main Entry: | quibble |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | disagree over minor issues |
Synonyms: |
altercate, argue over, argufy, avoid, bicker, blow hot and cold, carp, catch at straws, cavil, chicane, criticize, dispute, equivocate, evade, fence, flip-flop, hassle, have at it, hem and haw, hypercriticize, make a big thing about, nit-pick, paralogize, pettifog, pretend, prevaricate, put up an argument, set to, shift, spar, split hairs, squabble, talk back, waffle, wrangle |
Antonyms: |
agree, approve, concur |
| Main Entry: | shift |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | switch, fluctuate |
Synonyms: |
about-face, alter, blow hot and cold, bottom out, budge, change, change gears, cook*, deviate, dial back, dislocate, displace, disturb, do up, drift, exchange, fault, flip-flop, hem and haw, move, move around, move over, rearrange, recalibrate, relocate, remove, replace, reposition, ship, shuffle, slip, stir, substitute, swap places, swerve, switch over, tack, transfer, transmogrify, transpose, turn, turn around, turn the corner, turn the tables, vacillate, vary, veer, waffle, yo-yo |
Antonyms: |
deactivate, remain, stagnate |
| Main Entry: | sway |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | move back and forth |
Synonyms: |
bend, blow hot and cold, careen, fluctuate, hem and haw, incline, lean, lurch, oscillate, pendulate, pulsate, rock, roll, stagger, swagger, swing, undulate, vibrate, wave, waver, weave, wobble, yo-yo |
Antonyms: |
stay, steady |
| Main Entry: | vary |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | change |
Synonyms: |
alter, alternate, assort, be unlike, blow hot and cold, convert, depart, deviate, differ, digress, disagree, displace, dissent, divaricate, diverge, diversify, divide, fluctuate, hem and haw, inflect, interchange, modify, mutate, part, permutate, range, separate, shilly-shally, swerve, take turns, transform, turn, variegate, yo-yo |
Antonyms: |
remain, stay |