Definition of hesitation in English:

noun

• 1The action of pausing before saying or doing something.

  ‘she answered without hesitation’

  More example sentences

  • ‘There are likely to be longer pauses and more hesitations, with great care being taken over what is being said.’
  • ‘And, however accurate, such transcripts are never complete, neither indicating the tone in which answers were given, nor the speakers' hesitations, pauses or accompanying gestures.’
  • ‘In spite of our training to look at body language and listen to a person's speech, we are rarely told to pay close attention to the hesitations and pauses that accompany a conversation.’
  • ‘I answered that my hesitations stemmed not from a love of money but from an awareness of my inadequacies.’
  • ‘Normal speech is a muddle, a mix of sentence fragments and hesitations, repetitions and interruptions.’
  • ‘At the end of the six-week period, students were expected to demonstrate an ability to perform all assigned pieces, including all musical elements, without stops or hesitations.’
  • ‘Apart from slight hesitations and minor delays from the cinematographer (much to everyone's amusement) they left an indelible impression.’
  • ‘Now there can be no more hesitations and delays.’
  • ‘After many hesitations and interruptions, Otello was finally performed at La Scala in February 1887.’
  • ‘Everyday speech is replete with idiosyncrasies, hesitations and truncated sentences, and pronunciation of a syllable varies not only from individual to individual but even from instance to instance.’
  • ‘Fortunately, I have my writing as a refuge, and it's here that I gain my fluency - and since text is often more natural to me than talk, I insert the same hesitations that everyone else uses when they're speaking.’
  • ‘What is your reaction - no hesitations, no conferring, no calls to a friend - when Bill Clinton says an accusation is ‘absolutely false’?’
  • ‘Accompanying the installation is a soundtrack of hesitations created by the artist, who has lifted them from a speech given by the father of the atomic bomb, Robert Oppenheimer.’
  • ‘What drives them to leave behind all the pleasures of a settled life and make the supreme sacrifice for the nation without even the slightest of hesitations?’
  • ‘There are several hearty laughs to be had, and the hesitations and flubbed lines of opening night will surely disappear as the run continues.’
  • ‘The voice on the phone from New York is tremulous, unfailingly polite, marked by hesitations and bursts of nervous laughter.’
  • ‘Our speech is not the defined sentences of novels, but the mad collection of hesitations and uncompleted thoughts which we voice.’
  • ‘There can be no flubs or hesitations as both men say many lines together, in exact unison, to an unrelenting rhythm.’
  • ‘He rubs his eyes and slurs his words, and his sentences are peppered with ums and ahs and hesitations.’
  • ‘If the shafts of energy-lines across the path of coals presented the successes, and the excitement of triumph, it was the hesitations in the semi-darkness that brought suspense.’

  Synonyms

  pausing, delay, hanging back, waiting, shilly-shallying, dithering, stalling, temporizing, temporization

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  1. 1.1usually with negative Doubt or reluctance.
     ‘I have no hesitation in recommending him’
     More example sentences

     • ‘There was no hesitation or doubt for her, and therefore none for the audience.’
     • ‘Not for a moment is there any hesitation or doubt, as these obstacles have been transcended.’
     • ‘Gavin took the end of the rope and, with an impressive lack of hesitation, disappeared underwater.’
     • ‘Did you just wake up and roll down there and do it, or were there many moments of hesitation or doubt?’
     • ‘Buy a Defender, we have no hesitation in recommending it to you, and the more you can spend the better your prize will be.’
     • ‘It comes as little surprise, then, that Ross has no hesitation in recommending that people join a club.’
     • ‘I have no hesitation in recommending this book and look forward to further work from Richard Gray.’
     • ‘However, as someone who is still studying, I have no hesitation in recommending this book.’
     • ‘The reason for the hesitation is that we are right at the scoping stage.’
     • ‘With another week under his belt, he should shed some of the hesitation that dogged him in that outing.’
     • ‘But there was no sign of the hesitation in their play or lack of creativity in attack.’
     • ‘For it is clear they would do the same again, both in America and around the world, without compunction or hesitation.’
     • ‘If a particular outfit moves you, then you put your hands together without shame or hesitation.’
     • ‘When the clamp-down needs to be enforced the wizards of Oz do it without hesitation or mercy.’
     • ‘Skills they would no doubt put into practice without hesitation should any member of the public need their services.’
     • ‘As we shall see in a moment, a similar hesitation can be discerned in Matthew and Luke.’
     • ‘I have no hesitation whatsoever in preferring Mr Bradley's evidence on these matters to Mr Doshi's.’
     • ‘I have little hesitation in preferring the evidence of Mr Knowles and Professor Luckham on this issue.’
     • ‘Given that both constructions are tenable, I have not the least hesitation in preferring the latter.’
     • ‘Referee Clive Owen pointed to the spot without hesitation, to the dismay of the Lismore crowd.’
     Synonyms

     reluctance, misgivings, qualms, scruples, reservations, compunction, unwillingness, disinclination, ambivalence, unease, uneasiness, demurral

     View synonyms