stop-start

stop-start (comparative more stop-start, superlative most stop-start)

1. Intermittent; starting and stopping with regularity.
   • 2011 December 10, Ornstein, David, “Arsenal 1 - 0 Everton”, in BBC Sport‎:

     It was Van Persie's only opportunity during a stop-start match in which Theo Walcott, Gervinho and Aaron Ramsey squandered chances to open the scoring.

   • 2008 March 21, “Pop and Rock Listings”, in New York Times‎:

     Health, a quartet from Los Angeles, is another story, playing manic, stop-start spasms of percussion and screamy noise, with three of its members throwing their bodies around as if in an untamed dance.

• fitful, patchy; see also Thesaurus:discontinuous