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/ (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) (intransitive) To stop or pause respecting decision or action; to be in suspense or uncertainty as to a determination. 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. (intransitive) To stammer; to falter in speaking. (transitive, poetic, rare) To utter with hesitation or to intimate by a reluctant manner. ==== 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 ==== ==== Translations ==== === 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 second-person singular voseo imperative of hesitar combined with te