What is another word for hem and haw?
918 synonyms found
Pronunciation:
[ hˈɛm and hˈɔː], [ hˈɛm and hˈɔː], [ h_ˈɛ_m a_n_d h_ˈɔː]
Struggling to come up with the right words and phrases is incredibly common. When you're trying to express a certain feeling or idea, it's easy to get stuck in a "hem and haw" mode. Fortunately, there are plenty of other phrases you can use that mean the same thing, such as vacillate, waver, dither, fluctuate, or hesitate. These terms all convey a sense of indecision or uncertainty, and can be used to add variety to your writing or speaking. So next time you find yourself struggling to come up with the perfect words, try one of these synonyms for "hem and haw" instead.
Synonyms for Hem and haw:
-
v.
• communication • demur- Paused ,
- Shied ,
- Shying ,
- Stickled ,
- Stickling ,
- dis approve ,
- dis approved ,
- dis approves ,
- dis approving ,
- dis-approve ,
- dis-approved ,
- dis-approves ,
- dis-approving ,
- hem haw ,
- pro tested ,
- pro testing ,
- pro-tested ,
- pro-testing ,
- re fuse ,
- re fused ,
- re fuses ,
- re fusing ,
- re-fuse ,
- re-fused ,
- re-fuses ,
- remonstrate ,
- scruples ,
- shies ,
- stickles ,
- take exception ,
- takes exception ,
- taking exception ,
- took exception ,
- wait see .
- Loitered ,
- de lay ,
- de laying ,
- de lays ,
- de-lay ,
- de-laying ,
- de-lays ,
- dilly dally ,
- move slowly ,
- moved slowly ,
- moves slowly ,
- moving slowly .
- am beyond someone ,
- are beyond someone ,
- art beyond someone ,
- be beyond someone ,
- beat around bush ,
- beating around bush ,
- beating around the bush ,
- beats around bush ,
- beats around the bush ,
- being beyond someone ,
- gat around ,
- gat away from ,
- gave runaround ,
- gave slip ,
- gave the runaround ,
- gave the slip ,
- gave wide berth to ,
- get around ,
- get away from ,
- gets around ,
- gets away from ,
- getting around ,
- getting away from ,
- give runaround ,
- give slip ,
- give the runaround ,
- give the slip ,
- give wide berth to ,
- gives runaround ,
- gives slip ,
- gives the runaround ,
- gives the slip ,
- gives wide berth to ,
- giving runaround ,
- giving slip ,
- giving the runaround ,
- giving the slip ,
- giving wide berth to ,
- got around ,
- got away from ,
- gotten around ,
- gotten away from ,
- is beyond someone ,
- not touch ,
- not touched ,
- not touches ,
- not touching ,
- out run ,
- out running ,
- out runs ,
- out wit ,
- out wits ,
- out witted ,
- out witting ,
- out-run ,
- out-running ,
- out-runs ,
- out-wit ,
- out-wits ,
- out-witted ,
- out-witting ,
- pass buck ,
- pass up ,
- passed up ,
- passes up ,
- passing up ,
- ran around ,
- run around ,
- running around ,
- runs around ,
- staid shy of ,
- stay shy of ,
- stayed shy of ,
- staying shy of ,
- stays shy of ,
- steer clear of ,
- steered clear of ,
- steering clear of ,
- steers clear of ,
- was beyond someone ,
- wast beyond someone ,
- were beyond someone ,
- wert beyond someone .
- beg question ,
- begged question ,
- begged the question ,
- begging question ,
- begs question ,
- begs the question ,
- blow hot cold ,
- cloud issue ,
- clouded issue ,
- clouded the issue ,
- clouding issue ,
- clouding the issue ,
- clouds issue ,
- clouds the issue ,
- cop plea ,
- double talked ,
- double talking ,
- double-talked ,
- double-talking ,
- doubletalk ,
- doubletalked ,
- doubletalking ,
- flip flop ,
- flip flopped ,
- flip flopping ,
- flip-flopped ,
- flipflopped ,
- flipflopping ,
- gave run around ,
- gives run around ,
- giving run around ,
- minces words ,
- mincing words ,
- sat fence ,
- sat on fence ,
- sat on the fence ,
- sat the fence ,
- sate fence ,
- sate on fence ,
- sate on the fence ,
- sate the fence ,
- sit fence ,
- sit the fence ,
- sits fence ,
- sits on fence ,
- sits on the fence ,
- sits the fence ,
- sitting fence ,
- sitting on fence ,
- sitting on the fence ,
- sitting the fence ,
- telling white lie ,
- tells white lie ,
- tergiversed ,
- tergiverses ,
- tergiversing ,
- told white lie .
- Floundered ,
- Teetering ,
- Whiffle ,
- Whiffled ,
- Whiffling ,
- am undecided ,
- are undecided ,
- art undecided ,
- be undecided ,
- being undecided ,
- bobble ,
- bobbled ,
- bobbles ,
- bobbling ,
- drop ball ,
- drop the ball ,
- dropped ball ,
- dropped the ball ,
- dropping ball ,
- dropping the ball ,
- drops ball ,
- drops the ball ,
- dropt ball ,
- dropt the ball ,
- fluffed ,
- fluffing ,
- is undecided ,
- lurch ,
- lurching ,
- spake haltingly ,
- speak haltingly ,
- speaking haltingly ,
- speaks haltingly ,
- spoke haltingly ,
- stub toe ,
- stubbed toe ,
- stubbing toe ,
- stubs toe ,
- top pled ,
- top-pled ,
- trip up ,
- tripped up ,
- tripping up ,
- trips up ,
- was undecided ,
- wast undecided ,
- were undecided ,
- wert undecided ,
- whiffles ,
- wobble .
- YOYO ,
- ebb and flow ,
- ebb flow ,
- ebbed and flow ,
- ebbed flow ,
- ebbing and flow ,
- ebbing flow ,
- ebbs and flow ,
- ebbs flow ,
- go and down ,
- go up and down ,
- go up down ,
- goes and down ,
- goes up and down ,
- goes up down ,
- going and down ,
- going up and down ,
- going up down ,
- rise and fall ,
- rise fall ,
- rises and fall ,
- rises fall ,
- rising and fall ,
- rising fall ,
- rose and fall ,
- rose fall ,
- went and down ,
- went up and down ,
- went up down ,
- yo yo ,
- yo yoed ,
- yo yoing ,
- yo yos ,
- yo-yoed ,
- yo-yoing ,
- yo-yos ,
- yoyoed ,
- yoyoing ,
- yoyos .
- am noncommittal ,
- art noncommittal ,
- being noncommittal ,
- gave the run around ,
- gives the run around ,
- giving the run around ,
- is noncommittal ,
- shilly shally ,
- was noncommittal ,
- wast noncommittal ,
- were noncommittal ,
- wert noncommittal .
- pick pieces ,
- picked pieces ,
- picked to pieces ,
- picking pieces ,
- picking to pieces ,
- picks pieces ,
- picks to pieces .
- duck issues ,
- ducked issues ,
- ducked the issues ,
- ducking issues ,
- ducking the issues ,
- ducks issues ,
- ducks the issues ,
- play close the vest ,
- play close to the vest ,
- play close to vest ,
- play close vest ,
- play it close the vest ,
- play it close to vest ,
- play it close vest ,
- played close the vest ,
- played close to the vest ,
- played close to vest ,
- played close vest ,
- played it close the vest ,
- played it close to the vest ,
- played it close to vest ,
- played it close vest ,
- playing close the vest ,
- playing close to the vest ,
- playing close to vest ,
- playing close vest ,
- playing it close the vest ,
- playing it close to the vest ,
- playing it close to vest ,
- playing it close vest ,
- plays close the vest ,
- plays close to the vest ,
- plays close to vest ,
- plays close vest ,
- plays it close the vest ,
- plays it close to the vest ,
- plays it close to vest ,
- plays it close vest ,
- treading warily ,
- treads warily ,
- trod warily ,
- watch one step ,
- watch ones step ,
- watch step ,
- watched one step ,
- watched one's step ,
- watched ones step ,
- watched step ,
- watches one step ,
- watches one's step ,
- watches ones step ,
- watches step ,
- watching one step ,
- watching ones step ,
- watching step .
- Paralogized ,
- Paralogizing ,
- argued over ,
- argues over ,
- argufied ,
- argufies ,
- catch straws ,
- catches at straws ,
- catches straws ,
- catching at straws ,
- catching straws ,
- caught at straws ,
- caught straws ,
- had at it ,
- haddest at it ,
- haddest it ,
- hadst at it ,
- hadst it ,
- has at it ,
- has it ,
- hast at it ,
- hast it ,
- hath at it ,
- hath it ,
- having at it ,
- having it ,
- hyper criticize ,
- hyper criticized ,
- hyper criticizes ,
- hyper criticizing ,
- hyper-criticize ,
- hyper-criticized ,
- hyper-criticizes ,
- hyper-criticizing ,
- hypercriticized ,
- hypercriticizes ,
- hypercriticizing ,
- made a big thing about ,
- made big thing about ,
- make big thing about ,
- makes a big thing about ,
- makes big thing about ,
- making a big thing about ,
- making big thing about ,
- nit pick ,
- nit picked ,
- nit picking ,
- nit picks ,
- nit-picked ,
- nit-picks ,
- paralogizes ,
- pre tend ,
- pre tending ,
- pre tends ,
- pre-tended ,
- pre-tending ,
- pre-tends ,
- put an argument ,
- put argument ,
- puts an argument ,
- puts argument ,
- puts up an argument ,
- puts up argument ,
- putting an argument ,
- putting argument ,
- putting up an argument ,
- putting up argument ,
- sets to ,
- setting to ,
- talked back ,
- talks back .
- Faulted ,
- Faulting ,
- about face ,
- about faced ,
- about facing ,
- bottom out ,
- bottomed out ,
- bottoming out ,
- bottoms out ,
- change gears ,
- changed gears ,
- changes gears ,
- changing gears ,
- co oked ,
- co oking ,
- co-oked ,
- co-oking ,
- dial back ,
- dialed back ,
- dialing back ,
- dialled back ,
- dialling back ,
- dials back ,
- dis locate ,
- dis located ,
- dis locates ,
- dis locating ,
- dis place ,
- dis placed ,
- dis places ,
- dis placing ,
- dis-locate ,
- dis-located ,
- dis-locates ,
- dis-locating ,
- dis-place ,
- dis-placed ,
- dis-places ,
- dis-placing ,
- ex change ,
- ex changes ,
- ex changing ,
- ex-changed ,
- ex-changing ,
- move around ,
- move over ,
- moved around ,
- moved over ,
- moves around ,
- moves over ,
- moving around ,
- moving over ,
- re arrange ,
- re arranged ,
- re arranges ,
- re arranging ,
- re calibrate ,
- re calibrated ,
- re calibrates ,
- re calibrating ,
- re locate ,
- re located ,
- re locates ,
- re locating ,
- re move ,
- re moved ,
- re moving ,
- re place ,
- re placed ,
- re places ,
- re placing ,
- re position ,
- re positioned ,
- re positioning ,
- re positions ,
- re-arrange ,
- re-arranged ,
- re-arranges ,
- re-arranging ,
- re-calibrate ,
- re-calibrated ,
- re-calibrates ,
- re-calibrating ,
- re-locate ,
- re-located ,
- re-locates ,
- re-locating ,
- re-move ,
- re-moves ,
- re-moving ,
- re-placed ,
- re-places ,
- re-position ,
- re-positioned ,
- re-positioning ,
- re-positions ,
- recalibrate ,
- recalibrated ,
- recalibrates ,
- recalibrating ,
- reposition ,
- repositioned ,
- repositioning ,
- repositions ,
- shifting ,
- swapped places ,
- swapping places ,
- swaps places ,
- switch over ,
- switched over ,
- switches over ,
- switching over ,
- trans pose ,
- trans posed ,
- trans-pose ,
- trans-posing ,
- turn around ,
- turn corner ,
- turn tables ,
- turn the corner ,
- turned around ,
- turned corner ,
- turned tables ,
- turned the corner ,
- turned the tables ,
- turning around ,
- turning corner ,
- turning tables ,
- turning the corner ,
- turns around ,
- turns corner ,
- turns tables ,
- turns the corner ,
- turns the tables .
- are indecisive ,
- art indecisive ,
- be indecisive ,
- being indecisive ,
- change mind ,
- changed mind ,
- changes mind ,
- changing mind ,
- fence straddle ,
- fence straddled ,
- fence straddles ,
- fence straddling ,
- fence-straddle ,
- fence-straddled ,
- fence-straddles ,
- fence-straddling ,
- fencestraddle ,
- fencestraddled ,
- fencestraddles ,
- fencestraddling ,
- is indecisive ,
- pussyfoot around ,
- pussyfooted around ,
- pussyfooting around ,
- pussyfoots around ,
- ran hot and cold ,
- ran hot cold ,
- run hot and cold ,
- run hot cold ,
- running hot and cold ,
- running hot cold ,
- runs hot and cold ,
- runs hot cold ,
- was indecisive ,
- wast indecisive ,
- were indecisive ,
- wert indecisive .
- am unlike ,
- are unlike ,
- art unlike ,
- being unlike ,
- de part ,
- de parted ,
- de parting ,
- de parts ,
- de-part ,
- de-parted ,
- de-parting ,
- de-parts ,
- dis agree ,
- dis agreed ,
- dis agreeing ,
- dis agrees ,
- dis sent ,
- dis sents ,
- dis-agree ,
- dis-agreed ,
- dis-agreeing ,
- dis-agrees ,
- dis-sent ,
- dis-sents ,
- divaricates ,
- inter change ,
- inter changed ,
- inter changes ,
- inter changing ,
- inter-changes ,
- inter-changing ,
- is unlike ,
- permutated ,
- permutates ,
- permutating ,
- takes turns ,
- taking turns ,
- took turns ,
- trans form ,
- trans formed ,
- trans forming ,
- trans forms ,
- trans-form ,
- trans-formed ,
- trans-forming ,
- trans-forms ,
- was unlike ,
- wast unlike ,
- were unlike ,
- wert unlike .
- am unable decide ,
- am unable to decide ,
- are unable decide ,
- are unable to decide ,
- art unable decide ,
- art unable to decide ,
- be unable decide ,
- be unable to decide ,
- being unable decide ,
- being unable to decide ,
- de liberate ,
- de liberated ,
- de liberates ,
- de liberating ,
- de-liberate ,
- de-liberated ,
- de-liberates ,
- de-liberating ,
- is unable decide ,
- is unable to decide ,
- was unable decide ,
- was unable to decide ,
- wast unable decide ,
- wast unable to decide ,
- were unable decide ,
- were unable to decide ,
- wert unable decide ,
- wert unable to decide .
- dance around an issue ,
- dance around issue ,
- danced around an issue ,
- danced around issue ,
- dances around an issue ,
- dances around issue ,
- dancing around an issue ,
- dancing around issue ,
- laid low ,
- lay low ,
- laying low ,
- lays low ,
- slip out ,
- slipped out ,
- slipping out ,
- slips out ,
- slipt out ,
- sneak away ,
- sneaked away ,
- sneaking away ,
- sneaks away ,
- snuck away ,
- tap danced ,
- tap dancing ,
- welsh ,
- worm one way out of ,
- worm one's way out of ,
- worm ones way out of ,
- worm way out of ,
- wormed one way out of ,
- wormed one's way out of ,
- wormed ones way out of ,
- wormed way out of ,
- worming one way out of ,
- worming one's way out of ,
- worming ones way out of ,
- worming way out of ,
- worms one way out of ,
- worms one's way out of ,
- worms ones way out of ,
- worms way out of .
Other synonyms:
- evade .
Other relevant words:
- vary .
- Parried ,
- beg the question ,
- begging the question ,
- cloud the issue ,
- cover up ,
- covered up ,
- covering up ,
- covers up ,
- fibbing ,
- flip-flopping ,
- flipflop ,
- give run around ,
- jive ,
- jived ,
- jives ,
- jiving ,
- lied ,
- mince words ,
- minced words ,
- sit on the fence ,
- tell white lie ,
- tergiverse .
- Hesitated ,
- be irresolute ,
- be reluctant ,
- be unwilling ,
- dithered ,
- dithering ,
- hold off ,
- pull back ,
- pulled back ,
- pulling back ,
- pulls back ,
- shy away ,
- sit on fence ,
- stutter ,
- think about ,
- think twice ,
- thinking about ,
- thinking twice ,
- thinks about ,
- thought about .
- Haver ,
- Mammer ,
- See-saw ,
- Shilly-shally ,
- Strain at ,
- about the bush ,
- alternate ,
- back and fill ,
- back down ,
- balance ,
- be evasive ,
- be shifty ,
- beat around ,
- beat around the bush ,
- bumble ,
- cavil ,
- dance around ,
- dawdle ,
- debate ,
- delay ,
- deliberate ,
- dilly-dally ,
- dillydally ,
- dither ,
- dodge ,
- duck ,
- elude ,
- equivocate ,
- euphemize ,
- falter ,
- fear ,
- fence ,
- fluctuate ,
- fudge ,
- fudge and mudge ,
- halt ,
- hang back ,
- haw ,
- hedge ,
- hem ,
- hover ,
- hum ,
- hum and haw ,
- jib ,
- niggle ,
- oscillate ,
- palter ,
- parry ,
- pause ,
- pettifog ,
- ponder ,
- prevaricate ,
- pull away ,
- pussyfoot ,
- quibble ,
- recoil ,
- retreat ,
- scruple ,
- seesaw ,
- sheer off ,
- shift ,
- shrink ,
- shuffle ,
- shy ,
- sidestep ,
- split hairs ,
- stall ,
- step aside ,
- stick at ,
- stickle ,
- stop to consider ,
- straddle the fence ,
- strain ,
- stumble ,
- sway ,
- swerve ,
- swing ,
- swither ,
- tapdance ,
- teeter ,
- teeter-totter ,
- tergiversate ,
- think twice about ,
- toss and turn ,
- totter ,
- vacillate ,
- vibrate ,
- waffle ,
- ward off ,
- weasel ,
- will and will not ,
- withdraw ,
- yield ,
- yo-yo .
- Slank ,
- Tiptoes ,
- duck the issues ,
- play it close to the vest ,
- slinks ,
- snuck ,
- tiptoed ,
- tiptoeing ,
- tread warily ,
- watch one's step ,
- watching one's step .
-
•
How to use "Hem and haw" in context?
When it comes to matters of serious importance, most people will take a stand - no matter how difficult it might be. Just ask two friends who were recently discussing their disagreements on how to handle a situation. "hem and haw" is a term often used when trying to come to a resolution, and the underlying message is usually the same: don't make a commitment yet.
This noncommittal attitude can be frustrating for those who want to know what the other person is thinking and how they plan to act. But for those who are willing to let the other person make the first move, hem and haw can be a very effective negotiating tool.
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