hesitate

English

Alternative forms

• hæsitate (archaic)

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.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛz.ɪ.teɪt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛz.ə.teɪt/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈhez.ə.tæɪt/

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
• hesitater
• hesitating
• hesitation
• hesitative
• hesitatory

Translations

to stop or pause respecting decision or action

Arabic: تَرَدَّدَ (ar) (taraddada) Egyptian Arabic: اتردد (etraded) Armenian: վարանել (hy) (varanel), տատանվել (hy) (tatanvel) Azerbaijani: tərəddüd etmək Bashkir: икеләнеү (ikelənew) Basque: zalantzan egon 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), 躊躇 / 踌躇 (zh) (chóuchú), 遲疑 / 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) Hebrew: היסס (hisés) 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) Kazakh: баяулату (baäulatu), күмәндану (kümändanu), бұраландау (būralandau), дүдәмал болу (düdämal bolu) Khmer: ទីមទាម (km) (tiimtiəm), ទីទើរ (km) (tiitəə), តេងតាង (km) (teengtaang), ញីញញូញ (km) (ñiiññuuñ), ច្រេញច្រុញ (km) (crəñcroñ), ច្រិមច្រុម (km) (crəmcrom) 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 pf Sicilian: trantulijari Slovak: váhať impf Spanish: vacilar (es), dudar (es), hesitar (es), titubear (es) Swedish: tveka (sv) Tagalog: magdalawang-isip Thai: ลังเล (th) (lang-lee) Turkish: çekinmek (tr), kararsız kalmak, tereddüt etmek (tr) 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 (da), hakke i det Finnish: epäröidä (fi) French: hésiter (fr) German: zögern (de), stammeln (de) Kazakh: кекештену (kekeştenu), тұтығу (tūtyğu) 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

Latin: (please verify) dubitare (la) Serbo-Croatian: (please verify) kolebati (sh), (please verify) časiti (sh) 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.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “hesitate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “hesitate”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• athetise, hatesite

Spanish

Verb

hesitate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of hesitar combined with te