 4 definitions found
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
hesitate
verb
1: pause or hold back in uncertainty or unwillingness;
"Authorities hesitate to quote exact figures" [syn: {waver},
{waffle}]
2: interrupt temporarily an activity before continuing; "The
speaker paused" [syn: {pause}]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Hesitate \Hes"i*tate\, verb (used without an object) [imp. & p. p. {Hesitated}; p. pr. &
vb. n. {Hesitating}.] [L. haesitatus, p. p. of haesitare,
intens. fr. haerere to hesitate, stick fast; to hang or hold
fast. Cf. {Aghast}, {Gaze}, {Adhere}.]
1. To stop or pause respecting decision or action; to be in
suspense or uncertainty as to a determination; as, he
hesitated whether to accept the offer or not; men often
hesitate in forming a judgment. --Pope.
2. To stammer; to falter in speaking.
Syn: To doubt; waver; scruple; deliberate; demur; falter;
stammer.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Hesitate \Hes"i*tate\, verb (used with an object)
To utter with hesitation or to intimate by a reluctant
manner. [Poetic & R.]
Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike. --Pope.
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
86 Moby Thesaurus words for "hesitate":
alternate, back down, balance, balk, be dilatory, blench, boggle,
call a recess, debate, delay, deliberate, demur, dither,
equivocate, falter, fear, fight shy of, filibuster, flinch,
fluctuate, fumble, gain time, halt, hang, hang back, hang fire,
hang in doubt, hang off, have qualms, haver, haw, hem, hem and haw,
hold back, hold off, hover, hum, hum and haw, jib, let up,
make bones about, make time, mammer, pause, play for time, ponder,
procrastinate, pull back, quail, recess, recoil, rest, retreat,
scruple, shilly-shally, shrink, shrink from, shy, shy at, splutter,
sputter, stall, stall for time, stall off, stammer, stick at,
stickle, stooge around, stop to consider, straddle the fence,
strain, strain at, stumble, stutter, take a recess,
talk against time, temporize, tergiversate, think twice,
think twice about, vacillate, wait, waver, wince, withdraw,
yield
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