hesitancy
/ˈhɛzɪt(ə)nsi
/noun [mass noun]
The quality or state of being hesitant: Jackson took advantage of some hesitancy in the defence to rifle in a shot...
- With equal frequency he swept the ball off the sod without a second's hesitancy, and all told his was a performance fit to grace any final.
- The hesitancy and uncertainty that characterised the lead-up to this conflict has now been taken into the battlefield.
- There is one man who will have no doubts or hesitancies.
Synonyms
uncertainty, hesitation, hesitance, unsureness, doubt, doubtfulness, dubiousness, irresolution, irresoluteness, indecision, indecisiveness, equivocation, vacillation, wavering, scepticism, nervousness, second thoughts;
dithering, stalling, shilly-shallying, temporizing, temporization, pausing, delay, hanging back, waiting;
British havering, humming and hawing;
Scottish swithering
informal dilly-dallying, blowing hot and cold
rare dubiety, incertitude, cunctation
reluctance, unwillingness, disinclination, unease, uneasiness, ambivalence, demurral, compunction;
misgivings, qualms, scruples, reservations
Derivatives
hesitance
/ noun ...- We must overcome our hesitance, doubt, fear, anxiety, grief, torment, suffering… if we can do all of these things, we can do anything.
- Instantly he saw me, but in place of the smile he would have given me only two days ago, there was a look of uncertainty and hesitance.
- Faerwald thought about the girl's hesitance for a second before replying.