| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | doubt |
| Synonyms: | indecision, irresolution, reluctance, skepticism, uncertainty |
| Notes: | hesitancy is a quality or state, while hesitation is an act |
| Main Entry: | ambivalence |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | equivocation |
| Synonyms: | confusion dilemma, doubt, fluctuation, gingerliness, haze, hesitancy, hesitation, iffiness, inconclusiveness, indecision, irresoluteness, muddle, quandary, tentativeness, uncertainty, unsureness |
| Antonyms: | certainty, decisiveness |
| Main Entry: | doubt |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | lack of faith, conviction; questioning |
| Synonyms: | agnosticism, ambiguity, apprehension, confusion, demurral, difficulty, diffidence, dilemma, disbelief, discredit, disquiet, distrust, dubiety, dubiousness, faithlessness, faltering, fear, hesitancy, hesitation, incertitude, incredulity, indecision, irresolution, lack of confidence, misgiving, mistrust, perplexity, problem, qualm, quandary, rejection, reluctance, scruple, skepticism, suspense, suspicion, uncertainty, vacillation, wavering |
| Antonyms: | belief, certainty, confidence, dependence, faith, reliance, trust |
| Main Entry: | hesitation |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | waiting; uncertainty |
| Synonyms: | averseness, dawdling, delay, delaying, demurral, doubt, dubiety, equivocation, faltering, fluctuation, fumbling, hemming and hawing, hesitancy, indecision, indecisiveness, indisposition, irresolution, misgiving, mistrust, oscillation, pause, procrastination, qualm, reluctance, scruple, skepticism, stammering, stumbling, stuttering, unwillingness, vacillation, wavering |
| Notes: | hesitancy is a quality or state, while hesitation is an act |
| Antonyms: | certainty, eagerness, go, perseverance, sureness |
| Main Entry: | pause |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | wait, delay |
| Synonyms: | abeyance, break, break-off, breathing space, breathing spell, caesura, cessation, coffee break, comma, cutoff, deadlock, discontinuance, downtime, freeze*, gap, gridlock, halt, happy hour, hesitancy, hesitation, hiatus, hitch*, hush, interim, interlude, intermission, interregnum, interruption, interval, lacuna, lapse, layoff, letup, lull, pausation, recess, respite, rest, rest period, stand, standstill, stay, stillness, stopover, stoppage, suspension, time out |
| Antonyms: | continuation, persistence |
| Main Entry: | reservation |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | condition, stipulation |
| Synonyms: | catch, circumscription, demur, doubt, fine print, grain of salt, hesitancy, kicker, provision, proviso, qualification, restriction, scruple, skepticism, string, strings, terms |
| Antonyms: | openness |
| Main Entry: | scruple |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | misgiving, doubt |
| Synonyms: | anxiety, caution, censor, compunction, conscience, demur, difficulty, faltering, hesitancy, hesitation, pause, perplexity, qualm, reconsideration, reluctance, reluctancy, second thought, squeamishness, superego, twinge, uneasiness |
| Antonyms: | ignorance, negligence, unconcern |
| Main Entry: | suspense |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | anticipation |
| Synonyms: | anxiety, apprehension, chiller, cliff-hanger, cloak and dagger, confusion, dilemma, doubt, eagerness, expectancy, expectation, grabber, hesitancy, hesitation, impatience, indecision, indecisiveness, insecurity, irresolution, page-turner, perplexity, potboiler, tension, thriller, uncertainty, wavering |
| Antonyms: | knowledge |
| Main Entry: | uncertainty |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | doubt, changeableness |
| Synonyms: | ambiguity, ambivalence, anxiety, bewilderment, concern, confusion, conjecture, contingency, dilemma, disquiet, distrust, doubtfulness, dubiety, guesswork, hesitancy, hesitation, incertitude, inconclusiveness, indecision, irresolution, lack of confidence, misgiving, mistrust, mystification, oscillation, perplexity, puzzle, puzzlement, qualm, quandary, query, questionableness, reserve, scruple, skepticism, suspicion, trouble, uneasiness, unpredictability, vagueness, wonder, worry |
| Antonyms: | certainty, definiteness, security, sureness |