hesitation

hesitance, hesitancy, hesitation

All three words are first recorded in English in the early 17c, and the story since then has been one of advancement for hesitation and of sharp retreat for the other two, especially for hesitance although this occurs occasionally. There is a residual distinction between hesitancy and hesitation; the first denotes a tendency, whereas the second denotes a fact or action (and occurs in the plural): (hesitancy, hesitance)

• He understood the hesitancy of many landlords to rent to male rather than female students —Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.), 1973

• An examination of the client's hesitance, however, indicates that he is not at all sure about the terminology and that he may simply be echoing the wording of the charge —J. Citron, 1989

• He was reluctant to begin and his hesitancy made her look questioningly at him —T. Hayden, 1991

• (hesitation) He had driven the Deputy Director…half mad with his hesitation, his recycled arguments for accepting and not accepting —D. Bloodworth, 1978

• Women have trouble communicating in a ‘male’ language and the result is hesitations, false starts, and so on —D. Cameron, 1992.

Hesitation but not hesitancy is used in the idiomatic phrases not have a moment's hesitation and without hesitation:

• When Granpa asked me what I wanted for my fifteenth birthday I replied without a moment's hesitation, ‘My own barrow.’ —Jeffrey Archer, 1991

• When in 1974 I was flattered by an invitation to make a T V appearance as the Dimbleby lecturer, I accepted without hesitation —A. Goodman, 1993

• He answered clearly and without hesitation —business website, 2004 [OEC].