hesitate
Verb
Verb Forms: hesitated, hesitating, hesitates
- To pause or be reluctant before acting due to uncertainty.
- pause or hold back in uncertainty or unwillingness
- "Authorities hesitate to quote exact figures"
- interrupt temporarily an activity before continuing
- To stop or pause respecting decision or action; to be in suspense or uncertainty as to a determination.
- To stammer; to falter in speaking.
- To utter with hesitation or to intimate by a reluctant manner.
Examples
- A skilled Words With Friends player should never HESITATE when a bonus word opportunity arises.
- He hesitated whether to accept the offer or not; men often hesitate in forming a judgment.
Origin / Etymology
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.
Synonyms
pause, waffle, waver, balbucinate, balbutiate, boggle, deliberate, demur, dither, falter, haw, hem, hesitate, hover, mammer, scruple, stammer, stand shilly-shally, stick, stutter, swither
Antonyms
brazen, damn the torpedoes, decide, go big or go home, grasp the nettle, resolve, shoot first and ask questions later, shoot from the hip, shoot from the lip, shoot one's mouth off
Scrabble Score: 11
hesitate: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordhesitate: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
hesitate: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary