hesitate

English

Alternative forms

• hæsitate (archaic)

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɛzɪteɪt/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

Verb

hesitate (third-person singular simple present hesitates, present participle hesitating, simple past and past participle hesitated)

1. (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.

2. (intransitive) To stammer; to falter in speaking.
3. (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

• hesitant
• hesitation

Translations

to stop or pause respecting decision or action

• Arabic: تَرَدَّدَ (ar) (taraddada)

  Egyptian Arabic: اتردد (etraded)

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Azerbaijani: tərəddüd etmək
• Bashkir: икеләнеү (ikelənew)
• Basque: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: хіста́цца impf (xistácca), вага́цца impf (vahácca)
• Bulgarian: колеба́я се impf (kolebája se), двоумя се impf (dvoumja se), чудя се impf (čudja se)
• Catalan: hesitar (ca), dubtar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 猶豫／犹豫 (zh) (yóuyù), 犹豫 (zh) (yóuyù), 躊躇／踌躇 (zh) (chóuchú), 踌躇 (zh) (chóuchú), 遲疑／迟疑 (zh) (chíyí), 迟疑 (zh) (chíyí)

• Czech: váhat (cs) impf
• Danish: ^{(please verify)} tøve (da), ^{(please verify)} nøle, ^{(please verify)} vakle, have/nære ^{(please verify)} betænkeligheder
• Dutch: aarzelen (nl)
• Egyptian: (sjnj)
• Esperanto: heziti
• Finnish: epäröidä (fi), aikailla (fi), empiä (fi), viivytellä (fi), vitkastella (fi)
• French: hésiter (fr)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: zögern (de)
• Greek: διστάζω (el) (distázo)

  Ancient: ὀκνέω (oknéō), αἰσχύνομαι (aiskhúnomai), φοβέομαι (phobéomai)

• Hungarian: tétovázik (hu), habozik (hu), hezitál (hu)
• Indonesian: ragu (id)
• Italian: esitare (it), titubare (it)
• Japanese: ためらう (ja) (tamerau), 躊躇する (ja) (ちゅうちょする, chūcho suru), 躊躇う (ja) (tamerau)
• Khmer: ទីមទាម (km) (tiimtiəm), ទីទើរ (km) (tiitəə), តេងតាង (km) (teengtaang), ញីញញូញ (km) (ñiiññuuñ), ច្រេញច្រុញ (km) (crəñcroñ), ច្រិមច្រុម (km) (crəmcrom)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Korean: 망설이다 (ko) (mangseorida)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: دوودڵ بوون (dûdill bûn)

• Latin: haesitō, dubito (la)
• Lithuanian: dvejoti (lt) impf, svyruoti impf
• Luxembourgish: zécken
• Macedonian: се колеба impf (se koleba)
• Maori: tawhitawhi, kōrapa
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian: nøle med å

  Bokmål: nøle (no)

• Old English: wandian
• Polish: wahać się (pl) impf
• Portuguese: hesitar (pt), vacilar (pt), titubear (pt)
• Quechua: iskayyay
• Romanian: ezita (ro), șovăi (ro), pregeta (ro), a se codi (ro)
• Russian: колеба́ться (ru) impf (kolebátʹsja), ме́длить (ru) impf (médlitʹ), сомнева́ться (ru) impf (somnevátʹsja)
• Scots: swither
• Scottish Gaelic: sòr
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: оклевати impf (Ekavian), оклијевати impf (Ijekavian), колебати impf, поколебати pf, двоумити impf, нећкати pf

  Roman: oklevati (sh) impf (Ekavian), oklijevati (sh) impf (Ijekavian), kolebati (sh) impf, pokolebati (sh) pf, dvoumiti (sh) impf, nećkati (sh) pf

• Slovak: váhať impf
• Spanish: vacilar (es), dudar (es), hesitar (es) (rare), titubear (es)
• Swedish: tveka (sv)
• Tagalog: magdalawang-isip
• Thai: ลังเล (th) (lang-lee)
• Turkish: çekinmek (tr), kararsız kalmak
• Ukrainian: колива́тися impf (kolyvátysja), хита́тися impf (xytátysja), вага́тися (uk) impf (vahátysja)
• Vietnamese: chần chừ (vi), do dự (vi)

to stammer; to falter in speaking

• Bulgarian: заеквам (bg) (zaekvam), заекна (zaekna)
• Catalan: titubejar (ca)
• Czech: zaváhat (cs)
• Danish: stamme, hakke i det
• Finnish: epäröidä (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: zögern (de), stammeln (de)
• Polish: jąkać się (pl)
• Russian: запина́ться (ru) impf (zapinátʹsja), запну́ться (ru) pf (zapnútʹsja), заика́ться (ru) impf (zaikátʹsja), заикну́ться (ru) pf (zaiknútʹsja)
• Scots: hover

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

• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} להסס
• Latin: ^{(please verify)} dubitare (la)
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} kolebati (sh), ^{(please verify)} časiti (sh)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} dudar (es)
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} tveka (sv), ^{(please verify)} dröja (sv)

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

• athetise, hatesite