Meanings
comparative more irresolutely · superlative most irresolutely
- In an irresolute or wavering manner.
[H]e had heard about him the constant voices of his father and of his masters, urging him to be a gentleman above all things and urging him to be a good catholic above all things. […] And it was the din of all these hollowsounding voices that made him halt irresolutely in the pursuit of phantoms.
1916, James Joyce, chapter II, in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, New York, N.Y.: B[enjamin] W. Huebsch, →OCLC, page 93Synonyms: shilly-shally
Synonyms & antonyms
adverbIn an irresolute or wavering manner.
More synonyms by meaning
adverblacking determination or decisiveness
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Englishirresolute
- Proto-Indo-European*leyg-
- Proto-Germanic*līką
- Englishirresolutely
From irresolute + -ly.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
irresolutely. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/irresolutely
“irresolutely.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/irresolutely. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “irresolutely,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/irresolutely.
Source: irresolutely on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.