noun
definition
An act of hesitating
definition
Doubt; vacillation.
example
She carried out the order without hesitation.
definition
A faltering in speech; stammering.
Examples of hesitation in a Sentence
This time there was no hesitation, no rush.
There was a touch of hesitation in his voice.
After a brief hesitation, he spoke.
After a slight hesitation the door burst open with a cracking blow.
After a slight hesitation, she leaned forward and gripped his shoulders.
After a small hesitation, she nodded.
And his fancy pictured the battle, its loss, the concentration of fighting at one point, and the hesitation of all the commanders.
Both of these have political implications, and so it is with some hesitation I bring them up.
She said it without hesitation and turned away.
At her hesitation, he motioned for her to sit again and turned, continuing to block Kris from sight.
There was a moment of hesitation before she approached.
Nevertheless, after much hesitation, he took what he himself calls the most mistaken step of his life, and in 1847 entered the priesthood.
The obvious cause of his hesitation was disinterest.
The moral hesitation which decided the fate of battles was evidently culminating in a panic.
That hesitation lasted only an instant.
He carried her things inside without hesitation, lugging everything to her new room.
Randy had a hint of hesitation in his voice.
That moment of moral hesitation which decides the fate of battles had arrived.
Evidently it has to be so, said he to himself, and hastily undressing he got into bed, happy and agitated but free from hesitation or indecision.
He never felt any hesitation in dealing with the peasants.
At his hesitation and the heated, lustful look he gave her, Sofia's mouth dropped open.
All hints of hesitation left the young girl in the wake of the smother of love that enveloped her.
A moment's hesitation, a quick hand on the door knob, and Edith Shipton disappeared into the bedroom of her long ago lover.
He was invited to come to Brussels, and after some hesitation, and not without having first obtained the approval of the states of Holland and Zeeland, he assented.
He was educated for the church, and, after some hesitation, took orders in 1736 at Salerno, where he was appointed professor of eloquence at the theological seminary.
Conversely old English writers had no hesitation in translating as "earl" foreign titles which we now render "count."
Many of his friends urgently pressed him to accept; but without a moment's hesitation he determined to decline the proposed honour.
In the West these buildings were raised over the tomb, which was left intact; but in the East there was no hesitation in disturbing the graves of the saints and removing the bodies to a basilica built to receive them.
Cynthia had avoided it since the woman's death and now entered, hesitation in her step.
Lana yielded without any sign of hesitation, returning his kisses with timidity born of both inexperience and hunger.
She heard a note of hesitation alongside the consideration in his broken voice.
There had been no hesitation, no second guessing when Rhyn snapped Jade's neck. Over and over, Kris had tried to convince himself he'd do the same for his half-brother.
With another brief hesitation, Eden turned and walked away.
An invitation to the Swedish court was urged upon Descartes, and after much hesitation accepted; a vessel of the royal navy was ordered to wait upon him, and in September 1649 he left Egmond for the north.
In March 1821, Count Santorre di Santarosa and other conspirators informed Charles Albert of a constitutional and anti-Austrian plot, and asked for his help. After a momentary hesitation he informed the king; but at his request no arrests were made, and no precautions were taken.
Seeing the hesitation of the Italian government, the Austrian and German semi-official press redoubled their efforts to bring about the visit.
Accustomed freely and fearlessly to investigate whatever came before him, and swayed by a scrupulous dread of insincerity, he was doomed to long and anxious hesitation concerning some of the fundamental points of theology before arriving at a firm conviction of the truth of Christianity.
The selection, however, was not finally made without prolonged hesitation.
And we need have no hesitation in accepting this as a monument put up over a portion of the ashes from the funeral pyre of Gotama the Buddha.
In contrast to the fanatics, after a brief hesitation they threw millennarianism overboard, and along with it all other "opiniones Judaicae."
And if we cannot without much hesitation admit that Isaiah was really the first preacher of a personal Messiah whose record has come down to us, yet his editors certainly had good reason for thinking him capable of such a lofty height of prophecy.
We may without hesitation follow the opinion of Mommsen, who maintains that the limes was not intended, like Hadrian's Wall between the Tyne and the Solway, and like the great wall of China, to oppose an absolute barrier against incursions from the outside.
Now, since the moon revolves round the earth in 273 days, hesitation between the two full numbers might easily arise; yet the real explanation of the difficulty appears to be different.
In the Civil War, after considerable hesitation, he threw in his lot with Caesar, who made him proconsul of Achaea in 46.
In the years immediately preceding the Declaration of Independence Maryland pursued much the same course as did other leading colonies in the struggle - a vessel with tea on board was even burned to the water's edge - and yet when it came to the decisive act of declaring independence there was hesitation.
The few southern states which had not yet seceded, refused their contingents and promptly joined the "rebels," but there was no hesitation in the people of the North, and the state troops volunteered in far greater numbers than had been demanded.
Attempts by the French to improve the education of the natives were at first marked by hesitation and long periods in which little or nothing was done.
The present writer would accept without any real hesitation the first of these classes; and the second he would also himself accept, though in regard to this class he would think it right to speak with rather more reserve.
Again a long hesitation.
She popped one water cube but replaced the sugary cube with some hesitation.