hesitantly

adv

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"hesitantly" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“hesitantly” is uncommon English (frequency #56,802 among 23,837 “H” headwords), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#56,802
frequency rank, English
23,837
“H” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - With hesitation.

Key facts for hesitantly
PropertyValue
Headwordhesitantly
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdverb
Letters10
Frequency rank#56,802
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “hesitantly” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). hesitantly lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

hesitantly is uncommon English at frequency #56,802 among 23,837 “H” headwords, classed as anadverb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for hesitantly in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From hesitant + -ly. The correct English form is hesitantly, spelled H-E-S-I-T-A-N-T-L-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    With hesitation.
  2. 2
    With reluctance.

Etymology

From hesitant + -ly.

Synonyms

reluctantly

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "hesitantly"?
"hesitantly" is spelled H-E-S-I-T-A-N-T-L-Y.
What does "hesitantly" mean?
As an adverb, "hesitantly" means: With hesitation.
What is the origin of the word "hesitantly"?
From hesitant + -ly. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “hesitantly”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is H-E-S-I-T-A-N-T-L-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words

Other uncommon English words near this rank

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list