hesitate
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Latin haesitatus, past participle of haesitare, intensive of haerere (“to hesitate, stick fast; to hang or hold fast”). Displaced native Old English wandian.
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈhɛz.ɪ.teɪt/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈhɛz.ə.teɪt/
- (General Australian) IPA(key): /ˈhez.ə.tæɪt/
Verb
hesitate (third-person singular simple present hesitates, present participle hesitating, simple past and past participle hesitated)
- (intransitive) To stop or pause respecting decision or action; to be in suspense or uncertainty as to a determination.
- He hesitated whether to accept the offer or not; men often hesitate in forming a judgment.
- September 1, 1742, Alexander Pope, letter to Racine
- I shall not hesitate to declare myself very cordially, in regard to some particulars about which you have desired an answer.
- (intransitive) To stammer; to falter in speaking.
- (transitive, poetic, rare) To utter with hesitation or to intimate by a reluctant manner.
- a. 1724, Alexander Pope, The Ms. at Longleat:
- Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike.
Usage notes
- This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs
Synonyms
- (to stop respecting decision or action): demur, falter, mammer, scruple, waver; see also Thesaurus:hesitate
- (to falter in speaking): balbucinate, balbutiate, falter, hem, haw, stammer, stutter
- (to utter with hesitation): falter
Derived terms
Translations
to stop or pause respecting decision or action
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to stammer; to falter in speaking
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Further reading
- “hesitate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “hesitate”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “hesitate”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Anagrams
Spanish
Verb
hesitate
- second-person singular voseo imperative of hesitar combined with te