fitful

adj

Etymology: From fit (“convulsion, seizure; sudden burst of activity”) + -ful (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, with the sense of being full of, tending to, or thoroughly possessing the quality expressed by the noun).

1. Characterized by fits (convulsions or seizures).

   “Duncane is in his Graue: After Lifes fitfull Feuer, he ſleepes well, Treaſon ha's done his worſt: not Steele, not Poyſon, Mallice domeſtique, forraine Leuie, nothing, Can touch him further.”

2. Characterized by sudden bursts of activity with periods of inactivity in between; intermittent, irregular, unsteady.

   “His breathing was fitful.”

   “Troubled by her unfinished work, she fell into a fitful sleep.”