Meaning & use
hemming and hawing
Last updated
Meaning
phraseidiominformal
Taking a long time to decide or answer, usually by speaking in an unsure, hesitant way and avoiding a clear commitment.
Grammar: Acts like a verb phrase with no object: she kept hemming and hawing.
Patterns
- stop hemming and hawing
- keep hemming and hawing about something
After ten minutes of hemming and hawing, he finally admitted he did not want the job.
Stop hemming and hawing and tell me whether you are coming to the party.
The manager was hemming and hawing about the budget instead of giving us a straight answer.
Word forms
| base idiom | hem and haw |
|---|---|
| past | hemmed and hawed |
Common combinations
- stop hemming and hawing
- Please stop hemming and hawing and make a choice.
- keep hemming and hawing
- They kept hemming and hawing until the offer expired.
- spend ages hemming and hawing
- We spent ages hemming and hawing over which sofa to buy.
- hemming and hawing about something
- He is still hemming and hawing about moving abroad.
- after much hemming and hawing
- After much hemming and hawing, she signed the contract.
Synonyms and how they differ
- dithering
- Dithering stresses being unable to make up your mind, while hemming and hawing also suggests awkward, uncertain speech.
- hesitating
- Hesitating is neutral and can be brief, whereas hemming and hawing implies an annoyingly long delay.
- dragging your feet
- Dragging your feet suggests deliberately slow action, not just uncertain talking.
- prevaricating
- Prevaricating is more formal and suggests dodging a direct answer on purpose.
Opposites
Word family
- hem verb
- to make a throat-clearing sound or pause in speech, as in hem and haw
- haw verb
- to pause or stumble in speech, usually paired with hem
- hesitation noun
- a pause caused by uncertainty
Commonly confused: hemming and hawing or hemming?
hemming and hawing vs hemming
Hemming on its own usually means sewing the edge of cloth, which has nothing to do with this idiom.
Practice
The salesman kept ____ about the price, so we could not get a straight answer.
Choose one answer.
Hemming and hawing means speaking hesitantly instead of answering clearly. Huffing and puffing describes heavy breathing or complaining, and wheeling and dealing means making clever deals.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “hemming and hawing”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.