hesitant
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
- hesitance noun
- hesitantly adverb
- nonhesitant adjective
- nonhesitantly adverb
- unhesitant adjective
- unhesitantly adverb
Etymology
Origin of hesitant
First recorded in 1640–50; from Latin haesitant-, stem of haesitāns “faltering,” present participle of haesitāre “to falter, hesitate,” literally, “to stick repeatedly,” from haerēre “to stick, cling”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Others wonder if it could make non-professional climbers more hesitant to take friends out into the mountains in future.
From BBC
And though he’s skeptical of a doomsday scenario, Mayfield is hesitant to believe the new wave of AI anxiety will disappear soon.
Traders report minimal foot traffic, and investors appear hesitant, delaying major moves that now look more like gambles than strategic decisions.
From BBC
Inflation is set to fall to target this year, but prices are in many cases still outpacing wage growth, leaving households hesitant to spend.
The sounds could be loud or faint, hesitant or bold, slow to answer or quite rapid, like a human voice.
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
