: slowness in acting or deciding due to doubt or uncertainty : indecision
He often reminded me of Orwell, not so much in feature as by a kind of hesitancy of manner, as if thinking for a second about the true meaning of what had been said before committing himself … Anthony Powell
b
: lack of willingness or eagerness to do something : reluctance
She took that drastic step only with the greatest hesitancy.
This hesitancy to hire is one of the reasons companies are so unfazed by the possibility of the economy slowing. Rob Norton
I was naturally a little hesitant about asking exactly how much he did earn—but there was no hesitancy on his part as he flourished his pay slip. Richard Carver
his appointment to the superintendency was confirmed by the school board without the least hesitancy his hesitancy in pulling over into the next lane while he had a chance resulted in him missing his exit
Recent Examples on the WebVaccinations remain purely voluntary, and widespread hesitancy is a problem. Jason Gutierrez, New York Times, 22 Aug. 2022 While recession fears and slow growth have maintained investor pessimism, the hesitancy may be unfounded. Lucy Brewster, Fortune, 22 July 2022 Some hesitancy was to be expected from a player like Williams experiencing his first postseason game. Julia Poe, chicagotribune.com, 20 Apr. 2022 Vaccine hesitancy is a spectrum rather than a simple binary, and exposure to anti-vaccine conspiracy theories nudges recipients towards rejection. David Robert Grimes, Scientific American, 28 Mar. 2022 Vaccine hesitancy wasn’t a big issue then, says Wehrman, although there must have been some level of resistance to require the existence of mandates. Annalisa Merelli, Quartz, 15 Feb. 2022 Meanwhile, surveys have found, large percentages of other people might hold off on getting another shot because of hesitancy or pandemic fatigue. Liz Essley Whyte, WSJ, 1 Sep. 2022 Misinformation is still playing a part in people's hesitancy, said Dr. Marc Mestre, chief medical officer of Nicklaus Children’s Health System in Miami. Adrianna Rodriguez, USA TODAY, 25 Aug. 2022 All the action is told through Peele’s racially conscious lens, focusing on the siblings’ hesitancy to tell authorities about their findings because of their general mistrust of mainstream white society. Anna Tingley, Variety, 24 Aug. 2022 See More