Associations to the word «Hesitate»

Wiktionary

HESITATE, verb. (intransitive) To stop or pause respecting decision or action; to be in suspense or uncertainty as to a determination.
HESITATE, verb. (intransitive) To stammer; to falter in speaking.
HESITATE, verb. (transitive) (poetic) (rare) To utter with hesitation or to intimate by a reluctant manner.

Dictionary definition

HESITATE, verb. Pause or hold back in uncertainty or unwillingness; "Authorities hesitate to quote exact figures".
HESITATE, verb. Interrupt temporarily an activity before continuing; "The speaker paused".

Wise words

Words are always getting conventionalized to some secondary meaning. It is one of the works of poetry to take the truants in custody and bring them back to their right senses.
William Butler Yeats