noun ·4 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A pausing or halting before beginning a task, often as a result of some fear or uncertainty about the outcome. countable, uncountable
2. 2
   a certain degree of unwillingness wordnet
3. 3
   a feeling of diffidence and indecision about doing something wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

hesitationbogglecautionchancecompunctiondelay

Example

More examples

"Trust in the government seems to be a strong predictor of hesitancy in getting the vaccine."

Etymology

From Latin haesitantia. By surface analysis, hesitant + -cy.

Related phrases

vaccine hesitancy

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.