hesitate
verbEtymology
Etymology tree Latin haereō Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin -tō ▲ Latin -tō Latin -itō Latin -titō Latin haesitō Latin haesitātusbor. English hesitate Borrowed from Latin haesitātus, perfect passive participle of haesitō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), intensive of haereō (“to hesitate, stick fast; to hang or hold fast”). Displaced native Old English wandian. Compare French hésiter.
- borrowed from haesitātus
Definitions
To stop or pause respecting decision or action
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.
To stammer
To stammer; to falter in speaking.
To utter with hesitation or to intimate by a reluctant manner.
- Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike.
The neighborhood
- synonymfalter
- synonymmammer
- synonymscruple
- synonymwaver
- synonymboggle
- synonymwobble
- synonymdeliberate
- synonymhalt
- synonymwaffle
- synonymdither
- synonymhesitate
- synonymhover
- antonymdamn the torpedoes
- antonymdecide
- antonymbrazen
- antonymgrasp the nettle
- antonymgo big or go home
- antonymresolve
- antonymshoot first and ask questions later
- antonymshoot from the hip
- antonymshoot from the lip
- antonymshoot one's mouth off
- neighborthink twice
- neighborvacillate
- neighbordoubt
- neighborstop
- neighborpause
Derived
hesitant, hesitater, hesitating, hesitation, hesitative, hesitatory
Vish — recursive loop
A definitional loop anchored at hesitate. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.
A definitional loop anchored at hesitate. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.
8 hops · closes at hesitate
curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA