Relating to, characterized by, or tending to produce hesitation; expressing or marked by hesitation or doubt.
Formed from 'hesitate' by adding the suffix -ory, which creates adjectives meaning 'relating to' or 'tending to.' This is a high-Latinity suffix borrowed from Latin and used in formal English, as in 'sensory,' 'mandatory,' 'excretory.'
The -ory suffix (hesitatory, sensory, mandatory) is the most formal and technical adjective ending in English, so 'hesitatory' sounds like something a Victorian scientist would write about nerve responses. It's almost extinct in modern English because 'hesitant' works fine and sounds much less stiff. These word choices reveal how formality evolves.
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