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.
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
On social media, respondents were not hesitant to take sides.
From Los Angeles Times
Traders are struggling to find buyers—who have become hesitant as sanctions have piled up—particularly given the ample supply in global markets.
These conversations alone led nearly 1,000 previously hesitant parents and young people to take up the offer of vaccination.
From BBC
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.
