Adjective

(en adjective)

Irregular; unsteady; characterized by fits.

His breathing was fitful .

*1605 , Shakespeare, Macbeth ,

[...] Duncan is in his grave;

After life's fitful fever he sleeps well;

*1851 ,

*:The cabin lamp—taking long swings this way and that— was burning fitfully, and casting fitful shadows upon the old man’s bolted door [...]

*2012 , The Economist, The economy: Don’t say “green shoots”

*:So fitful has Britain’s economy been that any good news is understandably snatched at.

Adjective

(en-adj)

(not comparable) Single; sole; singular; not having a mate.

(obsolete) Singular in excellence; unique; sole; matchless; peerless; famous.

Singular in looks or character; peculiar; eccentric.

Strange, unusual.

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=We made an odd party before the arrival of the Ten, particularly when the Celebrity dropped in for lunch or dinner. He could not be induced to remain permanently at Mohair because Miss Trevor was at Asquith, but he appropriated a Hempstead cart from the Mohair stables and made the trip sometimes twice in a day.}}

(not comparable) Occasional; infrequent.

* (Sir Walter Scott), Guy Mannering – or The Astrologer

I assure you, if I were Hazlewood I should look on his compliments, his bowings, his cloakings, his shawlings, and his handings with some little suspicion; and truly I think Hazlewood does so too at some odd times.

(not comparable) Left over, remaining when the rest have been grouped.

(not comparable) Casual, irregular, not planned.

(not comparable, in combination with a number, not comparable) About, approximately.

(not comparable) Not divisible by two; not even.