hesitation
indecision in speech or action
How often you will meet it
Rank 2,986 of 71,295 words measured. It occurs 5,474 times across 191,625 chapters — 0.003% of every word in the library.
What it means
noun
- indecision in speech or action also: vacillation, wavering
- a certain degree of unwillingness also: reluctance, hesitancy, disinclination, indisposition a reluctance to commit himselfhis hesitancy revealed his basic indisposition
- the act of pausing uncertainly also: waver, falter, faltering there was a hesitation in his speech
hesitation in real books
Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.
-
After a momentary hesitation he found another glass.
Admiral Peters Odd Craft, Part 14. · W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs · Chapter 1
-
Without the slightest hesitation he recognised the prisoners and named them.
The Lerouge Case · Emile Gaboriau · Chapter 1
-
He simply looked and looked, and there was something beautiful to me in his shame and backwardness and hesitation.
The Motormaniacs · Lloyd Osbourne · Chapter 1
-
After a moment of hesitation, “Bash!” he thought, “I have the whole day to call at the office of the paper.”
Other People's Money · Emile Gaboriau · Chapter 1
-
During that one moment of hesitation, the idea of a ghost tried to take form in his more or less paralysed consciousness.
The Soul of a Child · Edwin Björkman · Chapter 1