hesitation

See also: hésitation

English

Alternative forms

• hæsitation (chiefly archaic) [18^th–19^th C.]

Etymology

From Latin haesitātiōnem, accusative singular of haesitātiō (“hesitating, stammering”), from haesitō (“hesitate”). Displaced native Old English ġewand.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /hɛzɪˈteɪʃən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

hesitation (countable and uncountable, plural hesitations)

1. An act of hesitating
2. Doubt; vacillation.

   She carried out the order without hesitation.

3. A faltering in speech; stammering.

Synonyms

• (act of hesitating): cunctation, hesitance, hesitancy, hold-up; see also Thesaurus:delay
• (doubt, vacillation): irresolution, wavering

Derived terms

• hesitation mark
• hesitation marker
• hesitation wound

Related terms

• hesitate

Translations

act of hesitating

• Azerbaijani: tərəddüd
• Bulgarian: колебание (bg) n (kolebanie), нерешителност (bg) f (nerešitelnost)
• Catalan: hesitació f, vacil·lació (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 躊躇 / 踌躇 (zh) (chóuchú), 猶豫 / 犹豫 (zh) (yóuyù), 遲疑 / 迟疑 (zh) (chíyí), 彷徨 (zh) (pánghuáng)

• Czech: váhání (cs) n
• Dutch: aarzeling (nl)
• Esperanto: ĉi hezito
• Finnish: empiminen (fi), epäröinti (fi)
• French: hésitation (fr) f
• Galician: vacilación (gl) f
• German: Zögern n
• Greek: δισταγμός (el) m (distagmós)

  Ancient: ὄκνος m (óknos)

• Hungarian: habozás (hu), hezitálás (hu), bizonytalankodás (hu)
• Indonesian: keragu-raguan
• Italian: esitazione (it) f
• Japanese: 躊躇 (ja) (chūcho), ためらい (ja) (tamerai)
• Latin: cunctātiō f, haesitātiō f
• Luxembourgish: Zécken n
• Old English: ġewand n
• Polish: wahanie (pl) n, niezdecydowanie (pl) n
• Portuguese: hesitação (pt) f
• Romanian: ezitare (ro) f, șovăială (ro) f
• Russian: нереши́тельность (ru) f (nerešítelʹnostʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: sgogarsaich f, sòradh m
• Spanish: hesitación (es) f, vacilación (es) f, dudas (es) f pl, titubeo (es) m
• Swedish: tvekan (sv) c
• Turkish: tereddüt (tr)

faltering in speech

• Bulgarian: заекване n (zaekvane)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 支吾 (zh) (zhīwu), 吞吐 (zh) (tūntǔ), 口吃 (zh) (kǒuchī), 結巴 / 结巴 (zh) (jiéba)

• Czech: zaváhání n
• Finnish: takeltelu
• German: Zögern n
• Scottish Gaelic: sòradh m