halting

[ hawl-ting ]
See synonyms for halting on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. faltering or hesitating, especially in speech.

  2. faulty or imperfect.

  1. limping or lame: a halting gait.

Origin of halting

1
late Middle English word dating back to 1375–1425; see origin at halt2, -ing2

Other words from halting

  • halt·ing·ly, adverb
  • halt·ing·ness, noun
  • un·halt·ing, adjective
  • un·halt·ing·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use halting in a sentence

  • The brown-skinned, dark-haired man appeared in the entrance of the tent and spoke haltingly in English.

    The Gold Trail | Harold Bindloss
  • She lisped the words in her soft, sweet voice, haltingly, like a little child.

    The Fire People | Ray Cummings
  • "I—I must go to my room, Herr Hauptmann," she murmured haltingly.

    The Secret Witness | George Gibbs
  • An unbalanced sentence goes haltingly and jars; an ambiguous pronoun causes the reader to stumble.

    The Age of Erasmus | P. S. Allen
  • The train moved haltingly, having to wait at sidings for other trains that had the right of way.

    Ralph Granger's Fortunes | William Perry Brown

British Dictionary definitions for halting

halting

/ (ˈhɔːltɪŋ) /


adjective
  1. hesitant: halting speech

  2. lame

Derived forms of halting

  • haltingly, adverb
  • haltingness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012