English

Adverb

fitfully ‎(comparative more fitfully, superlative most fitfully)

1. In a fitful manner; irregularly or unsteadily.

   He slept fitfully, plagued by bad dreams and a persistent cough.

   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, chapter 123

     The cabin lamp—taking long swings this way and that— was burning fitfully, and casting fitful shadows upon the old man’s bolted door [...]

   • 1886, Henry James, The Bostonians, chapter 36

     The train for Marmion left Boston at four o'clock in the afternoon, and rambled fitfully toward the southern cape, while the shadows grew long in the stony pastures [...]

   • 1904, Jack London, The Sea Wolf, chapter 36

     We shivered miserably throughout the night. Now and again fitfully slept, but the pain of the cold always aroused me.

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