adj ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adjective

1. 1
   Tending to hesitate, wait, or proceed with caution or reservation.

   "I am hesitant to recommend him as a manager because he has a short temper."

Adjective

1. 1
   lacking decisiveness of character; unable to act or decide quickly or firmly wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

hesitatingafraidagnosticambiguousambivalentaverse

Antonyms

All antonyms

prompt

Example

More examples

"I'm rather hesitant about asking him a favor."

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin haesitans, present participle of haesitare (“to stick fast, to hesitate”).

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