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IRRESOLUTE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Uncertain how to act or proceed
Example:
the committee was timid and mediocre and irresolute
Classified under:
Similar:
discouraged (lacking in resolution)
infirm (lacking firmness of will or character or purpose)
unstable (disposed to psychological variability)
vacillant; vacillating; wavering (uncertain in purpose or action)
weak-kneed (lacking will power or resolution)
Also:
indecisive (not definitely settling something)
Antonym:
resolute (firm in purpose or belief; characterized by firmness and determination)
Derivation:
irresoluteness (the trait of being irresolute; lacking firmness of purpose)
Context examples:
This appeal seemed to produce some effect, for two of the fellows began to look here and there among the lumber, but half-heartedly, I thought, and with half an eye to their own danger all the time, while the rest stood irresolute on the road.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
He saw her too; yet he looked grave, and seemed irresolute, and only by very slow degrees came at last near enough to speak to her.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
I would be understood to mean, that it can be only weak, irresolute characters, (whose happiness must be always at the mercy of chance,) who will suffer an unfortunate acquaintance to be an inconvenience, an oppression for ever.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
He stood irresolute, uncertain whether to advance or to take no notice; but, even as he hesitated, the mirror was whipped in, and a tall and stately young lady swept out from behind the oaken screen, with a dancing light of mischief in her eyes.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
“And yet,” said I, “I get so miserable and worried, and am so unsteady and irresolute in my power of assuring myself, that I know I must want—shall I call it—reliance, of some kind?”
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
