Contents -AUTHOR INDEX -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Mawson, C.O.S., ed. (1870–1938). Roget’s International Thesaurus. 1922.

Class V. Words Releasing to the Voluntary Powers
Division (I) Individual Volition
Section I. Volition in General
1. Acts of Volition

605. Irresolution.

   NOUN:IRRESOLUTION, infirmity of purpose, indecision, indetermination, undetermination [rare], instability; loss of will power, abulia, abulomania; unsettlement; uncertainty [See Uncertainty]; demur, suspense; hesitating &c. v., hesitation, hesitancy; wabble or wobble; revocability, vacillation; changeableness [See Changeableness]; fluctuation; alternation (oscillation) [See Oscillation]; caprice [See Caprice]; lukewarmness, Laodiceanism.
  FICKLENESS, levity, légèreté [F.]; pliancy (softness) [See Softness]; weakness; timidity [See Fear]; cowardice [See Cowardice]; half measures.
  WAVERER, shilly-shally, ass between two bundles of hay; shuttlecock, butterfly, feather, piece of thistledown; house built on sand; doughface [U. S.]; turncoat, opportunist, Vicar of Bray, Dite Deuchars; Laodicean; timeserver [See Tergiversation].
   VERB:BE IRRESOLUTE &c. adj.; hang -, keep- in suspense; leave ad referendum; think twice about, pause; dawdle (inactivity) [See Inactivity]; remain neuter; dilly-dally, hesitate, boggle, hover, dacker or daiker [dial. Eng. & Scot.], wabble or wobble [colloq.], shilly-shally, hum and haw, demur, not know one’s own mind; debate, balance; dally with, coquet with; will and will not, chasser-balancer [F.]; go halfway, compromise, make a compromise; be thrown off one’s balance, stagger like a drunken man; be afraid [See Fear]; let “I dare not” wait upon “I would” [Macbeth]; falter, waver.
  VACILLATE [See Changeableness]; change [See Change]; retract [See Tergiversation]; fluctuate; pendulate; alternate (oscillate) [See Oscillation]; keep off and on, play fast and loose; blow hot and cold (caprice) [See Caprice]; turn one’s coat.
  SHUFFLE, palter, blink, shirk, trim.
   ADJECTIVE:IRRESOLUTE, infirm of purpose, palsied, drifting, double-minded, half-hearted; undecided, unresolved, undetermined; shilly-shally, wabbly or wobbly; fidgety, tremulous; hesitating &c. v.; off one’s balance; abulic; at a loss (uncertain) [See Uncertainty].
  VACILLATING &c. v.; unsteady (changeable) [See Changeableness]; unsteadfast, fickle, unreliable, irresponsible, unstable, unstable as water, without ballast; capricious [See Caprice]; volatile, frothy; light, lightsome, lightminded; giddy; fast and loose.
  WEAK, feeble-minded, frail; timid [See Fear]; cowardly [See Cowardice]; dough-faced [U. S.]; facile; pliant (soft) [See Softness]; unable to say “no,” easy-going.
  REVOCABLE, reversible.
   ADVERB:IRRESOLUTELY &c. adj.; irresolvedly; in faltering accents; off and on; on the sands; from pillar to post; seesaw [See Oscillation].
   QUOTATIONS:

1. The brave man chooses while the coward stands aside.—Lowell
2. To have twa minds is as confusing as twins.—Barrie
3. How happy could I be with either!—Gay