hesitationnoun [ C or U ]
uk/ˌhez.ɪˈteɪ.ʃən/us/ˌhez.əˈteɪ.ʃən/C1 the act of pausing before doing something, especially because you are nervous or not certain:
After a slight hesitation, she began to speak.
Any hesitation on the part of the government will be seen as weakness.
formal I have no hesitation in recommending Ms Shapur for the job.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Hesitating
- dilly-dally
- dither
- falter
- foot
- halting
- hang
- hang back
- have a foot in both camps idiom
- haw
- hem
- hem and haw idiom
- hesitant
- hesitate
- hum
- hum and haw idiom
- pussyfoot
- shilly-shally
- sit
- sit on the fence idiom