hesitation

a state or an instance of temporary inaction because of uncertainty about the right course of action one moment's hesitation on my part, and the elusive butterfly was lost to me forever Synonyms faltering, fence-sitting, hesitance, hesitancy, indecision, irresolution, pause, shilly-shally, shilly-shallying, vacillation, wavering, wobbling (also wabbling) Related Words delay, hawing, procrastination, waiting; arrière-pensée, misgiving, second thought; consideration, debate, deliberation, doubt, incertitude, indecisiveness, indetermination, uncertainness, uncertainty; avoidance, equivocation; aversion, disinclination, indisposition, reluctance, unwillingness; faintheartedness, shyness, timidity, timidness Near Antonyms certainty, certitude, confidence, decisiveness, determination, firmness, resoluteness, resolution, sureness; alacrity, eagerness, readiness