English → Latin
“hesitation” in Latin
dubitātiōdoubt, uncertainty; wavering, hesitation; questioninghaesitātiōhesitation, hesitating; stammering; irresolution, perplexity, embarrassmentcūnctātiōdelay; hesitation; inactivity; dawdlingreligiōscrupulousness, conscientious exactness; piety, religious scruple, religious awe, superstition, strict religious observascrūpulusa small, sharp or pointed stone; anxiety; uneasiness; difficulty; doubt; scruplecōnfīdenterboldly, daringly; audaciously; impudentlyaudāxbold, audacious, daring; presumptuous
The English word hesitation itself goes back to Latin haereō, through haesitātiōnem.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
hesitation
dubitatio (hesitation in deciding, the hesitation of indecision, undecidedness): haesitatio (doubt, hesitation): cunctatio (a delaying): religio: scrupulus (hesitation from a scruple, doubt of conscience). Without hesitation, non dubitanter; nulla interposita dubitatione; sine ulla dubitatione; haud cunctanter; abjecta omni cunctatione (without delay); confidenter (with confidence); audacter (boldly); sine retractatione (without any drawing back or shrinking; e.g., pro patria vitam profundere, Cic.; also of any flinching from the broad statement of an opinion, sine retractatione libere dicere audere etc.; also with dubitatio; confides igitur et quidem sine ulla dubitatione aut retractatione, Cic., Att., 13, 25; in classical Latin the word is only found in this construction).
In speaking, haesitantia linguae (as natural defect): haesitatio (from confusion of mind, etc., also deformis haesitatio, Quint.). To speak without hesitation, volvere verba: to speak distinctly and without hesitation, plane et articulate loqui (Gell., 5, 9, of a dumb person who suddenly recovered the power of speech): a speech delivered without hesitation, oratio fluens or volubiliter fusa: an orator who speaks without hesitation, orator volubilis.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for hesitation?
- The usual Latin words for “hesitation” are dubitātiō, haesitātiō, cūnctātiō; also religiō, scrūpulus, cōnfīdenter. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.