Macmillan Dictionary

Did you know?

Click any word in a definition or example to find the entry for that word

Starting and stopping often

stop-start

adjective

continuously starting, stopping, and starting again

fitful

adjective

starting and stopping often

uneven

adjective

not happening or appearing in a regular pattern

on-off

adjective

happening, stopping, and then happening again, several times

by/in fits and starts

stopping and starting again many times, rather than progressing steadily

bursty

adjective

happening in short sudden periods

discontinuous

adjective

not continuing without stopping or being interrupted

unevenly

adverb

fitfully

adverb

charticle

a news article that consists of a chart … and only has a small amount of text

BuzzWord Article

Word of the Day

electron

a part of an atom that moves around the nucleus (=centre) and has a negative electrical charge

Open Dictionary

never event

an event that should never occur in a healthcare setting …

add a word

Blog

A must for anyone with an interest in the changing face of language. The Macmillan Dictionary blog explores English as it is spoken around the world today.

global English and language change from our blog