hesitant

UK/ˈhɛzɪtənt/US/ˈhɛzɪtənt/

adjectiveB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #11,170 of 15,258neutral

Hesitant means pausing because you are not sure whether to act. The hand stops halfway.

It describes manner as much as decision, so a hesitant knock and a hesitant smile both show the doubt physically. It takes about or an infinitive. The word is gentler than reluctant, since a hesitant person may still be persuaded and a reluctant one has already decided against. The verb hesitate is common in the fixed phrase do not hesitate to ask, which is a standard polite closing.

Definitions of hesitant

1adjectivehesitantPausing or uncertain about whether to act.B2+
“He was hesitant about signing anything.”

Also accepted in games: reluctant

Where it comes from

Hesitant is sticking fast. Latin haesitō meant to stick or to be caught, so hesitating is being held up rather than choosing slowly.

Latin
haesitāns
English, today
hesitant

Built from

haesito · Latin — to stick fast, to hesitate

Borrowed from Latin haesitāns. Borrowed from Latin haesitans, present participle of haesito (“to stick fast, to hesitate”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Feelings & Character, A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 5 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

hesitant in the wild

Waltz 1A begins in a hesitant manner while waltz 1B is more flowing but not overly joyous.
Die Publicisten
Waltz 3A starts off in F major in a hesitant mood, proceeding into a climax with cymbals.
Cagliostro-Walzer
As in Sonnet 130, Shakespeare shows himself to be hesitant about self-assured, flamboyant, and flowery proclamations of beauty.
Sonnet 17
Prince was initially hesitant to sign off on its use, but agreed to watch the film before he made a final decision.
The Song of the Heart (song)
Acronicta modica, the hesitant dagger, is a moth of the family Noctuidae.
Acronicta modica

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the haesito family

hesitation hesitant

hesitant — used about once every 8,182 pages · #11,170 · point at the bar for the others

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