Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The state or quality of being hesitant.
  • noun An instance of hesitating.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state or condition of hesitating; indecision; vacillation.
  • noun Synonyms See hesitation.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of hesitating, or pausing to consider; slowness in deciding; vacillation; also, the manner of one who hesitates.
  • noun A stammering; a faltering in speech.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A pausing or halting before beginning a task, often as a result of some fear or uncertainty about the outcome.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a feeling of diffidence and indecision about doing something
  • noun a certain degree of unwillingness

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

hesitant +‎ -cy

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Examples

  • This isn't to say that such hesitancy is entirely unmerited; just as there are Christians who seem to have the sole mission of converting others to their religion, there are many atheists who only engage with people of faith in hopes of convincing them to abandon their tenants.

    Chris Stedman: Interfaith Dialogue Must Include Atheists Chris Stedman 2010

  • However, we expect a certain hesitancy of line in an early work.

    In the grandest tradition of Clerks, he wasn't even supposed to be at work that day. matociquala 2009

  • This isn't to say that such hesitancy is entirely unmerited; just as there are Christians who seem to have the sole mission of converting others to their religion, there are many atheists who only engage with people of faith in hopes of convincing them to abandon their tenants.

    Chris Stedman: Interfaith Dialogue Must Include Atheists Chris Stedman 2010

  • This isn't to say that such hesitancy is entirely unmerited; just as there are Christians who seem to have the sole mission of converting others to their religion, there are many atheists who only engage with people of faith in hopes of convincing them to abandon their tenants.

    Chris Stedman: Interfaith Dialogue Must Include Atheists Chris Stedman 2010

  • This isn't to say that such hesitancy is entirely unmerited; just as there are Christians who seem to have the sole mission of converting others to their religion, there are many atheists who only engage with people of faith in hopes of convincing them to abandon their tenants.

    Chris Stedman: Interfaith Dialogue Must Include Atheists Chris Stedman 2010

  • It is my belief that the formula proposed in the message I sent yesterday should be adopted without any hesitancy, that is, a heavily fortified defensive position using an amount of soldiers not to exceed the size of a brigade, which should be maintained at the eastern section of the river.

    Castro Addresses State Council on Drug Trial 1989

  • The principal reason for my hesitancy was his treatment of the Anti-Slavery people of the border slave States, and especially of Missouri.

    The Abolitionists Together With Personal Memories Of The Struggle For Human Rights

  • "I'm really scared to go there," she said, referring to her hesitancy in talking about the cremation.

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed ROBERT MATAS 2011

  • "Of course buyer hesitancy, which is understandable, is delaying the work-down in new home levels, as well."

    BloggingStocks 2008

  • SNOW (voice-over): And it's that kind of hesitancy that health officials are trying to overcome.

    CNN Transcript Oct 23, 2009 2009

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