hesitancy

[ hez-i-tuhn-see ]

noun

, plural hes·i·tan·cies

1. hesitation; indecision or disinclination.

Other Words From

• pre·hesi·tan·cy noun plural prehesitancies

Word History and Origins

Origin of hesitancy¹

From the Latin word haesitantia, dating back to 1610–20. See hesitant, -ancy

Example Sentences

Another issue that can’t be solved with an app is overcoming vaccine hesitancy.

From MIT Technology Review

Other data, like the ongoing pandemic behavior survey conducted by Carnegie Mellon University’s Delphi Group, shows that vaccine hesitancy is high in states with low social capital, particularly in the South.

From Washington Post

So I’m wondering if you’ve experienced any of the same hesitancy to read that relationship as romantic in the reception to the book, and whether it surprised you.

From Vox

Covid-19 has had a disproportionate effect on the city’s most historically underserved communities, bringing to the forefront issues such as vaccine hesitancy, learning loss, unemployment and housing instability.

From Washington Post

Another issue that could undermine plans to achieve herd immunity is vaccine hesitancy.

From Washington Post

“We would love to finish what we started some years ago,” Branson told journalists at a news conference with notable hesitancy.

From The Daily Beast

Also, because it involves reproduction, there is a greater hesitancy by the states to get involved.

From The Daily Beast

I asked Ferris if there was a bias or a hesitancy to recruit Native American kids.

From The Daily Beast

Rattner apologized for his hesitancy and “closed [his] eyes and jumped.”

From The Daily Beast

This was partly, it seems, due to his own desire to finish school and his hesitancy to move out to Palo Alto.

From The Daily Beast

There was a pathetic hesitancy in her manner, the hesitancy of a weak woman who adheres to a purpose only by supreme effort.

From Project Gutenberg

Bright obeyed, began with much hesitancy, but found his tongue and made an excellent address.

From Project Gutenberg

There can be no hesitancy, with the fair words of the crowd in one scale—and Ida Ross, unknown and unbeloved, in the other.

From Project Gutenberg

He realized, and at the same time resented, the tribute he paid Braceway through his hesitancy.

From Project Gutenberg

Thus the cautious encyclopædia; but Ibn Khallikan has no such hesitancy.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• indecision
• reluctance
• skepticism