indecision
/ɪndɪˈsɪʒ(ə)n
/noun [mass noun]
The inability to make a decision quickly: government indecision over the future of local taxation a gesture of indecision...
- At every stage, ambivalence and indecision has meant that decisions were forced upon them by events on the ground.
- At what point does indecision, does the inability to act at all, become legitimately frightening?
- She seemed to hover in indecision for a second, and then made the abrupt decision to speak.
Synonyms
indecisiveness, irresolution, irresoluteness, lack of resolution, hesitancy, hesitation, tentativeness;
ambivalence, doubt, doubtfulness, unsureness, uncertainty;
vacillation, equivocation, oscillation, wavering, teetering, fluctuation, faltering, second thoughts;
delay, hanging back, waiting, shilly-shallying, dithering, stalling, temporizing, temporization;
British havering, humming and hawing;
Scottish swithering
informal dilly-dallying, blowing hot and cold, sitting on the fence
rare dubiety, incertitude, cunctation
Origin
Mid 18th century: from French indécision, from in- (expressing negation) + décision, from Latin decisio(n-), from the verb decidere (see decide).