tentative

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“
He knew what he was doing even when the rest of the band might have seemed tentative, and it's to his credit that the many disparate elements hang together as well as they do.

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Definitions (8)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. adjective Not fully worked out, concluded, or agreed on; provisional: tentative plans.
  2. adjective Uncertain; hesitant.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

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Examples (12)

  • The school choice you indicate on the Scholarship Application Form may be tentative, and you may choose another school at any time.
  • Obviously, by keeping a low profile, Russia avoided being drawn into big guys 'mess, which allowed it to keep its not-so-little gains, namely the tentative promise of signing the START-3 treaty before the end of this year, and getting the United States to agree to Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
  • He knew what he was doing even when the rest of the band might have seemed tentative, and it's to his credit that the many disparate elements hang together as well as they do. —  Murmurs.com
  • They are off balance, tentative, and clueless when it comes to strategizing a counter to Palin and her popularity which has hit the presidential campaign like a sudden thunderstorm and thrown everything out of whack. —  Right Wing Nut House
  • Both fighters are now looking a little more tentative, and there's not a lot of action. —  FanHouse
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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Medieval Latin tentātīvus, from Latin tentātus, past participle of tentāre, to try, variant of temptāre.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from French tentatif = Spanish Portuguese Italian tentativo, from Latin tentativus, trying, testing, from tentare, past participle tentatus, try, test: see tent, tempt.
 

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/ˈtɛntətɪv/
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