different between hesitating vs questionable

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?h?z?te?t??/

Alternative forms

• hæsitating (archaic)

Verb

hesitating

1. present participle of hesitate

Noun

hesitating (plural hesitatings)

1. hesitation
   • 1836, Charles Dickens, The mistaken milliner. A tale of ambition

     Miss Martin, after sundry hesitatings and coughings, with a preparatory choke or two, […] commenced a species of treble chirruping […]

Anagrams

• athetising, eating shit

English

Alternative forms

• quæstionable (archaic)

Etymology

question +? -able

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?kw?st???n?bl?/
• Hyphenation: ques?tio?nable

Adjective

questionable (comparative more questionable, superlative most questionable)

1. Problematic; open to doubt or challenge.

   It is questionable if the universe is open or closed.

   • 1881, Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady, London: Macmillan, Volume I, Chapter 3, p. 28,^[1]

     A crude, cold rain was falling heavily; the spring-time presented itself as a questionable improvement.

2. Of dubious respectability or morality.

   Tiffiny’s behavior is highly questionable.

   • 1920, Carolyn Wells, Raspberry Jam, Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, Chapter 18, p. 302,^[2]

     […] he had a love of money—a sort of acquisitiveness, that led him into questionable dealings.

3. (obsolete) Inviting questions; inviting inquiry.
   • c. 1600, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act I, Scene 4,^[3]

     Thou com’st in such a questionable shape

     That I will speak to thee.

Derived terms

Translations