INDECISION

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does indecision mean? 

• INDECISION (noun)
  The noun INDECISION has 2 senses:

1. doubt concerning two or more possible alternatives or courses of action

2. the trait of irresolution; a lack of firmness of character or purpose

  Familiarity information: INDECISION used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INDECISION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Doubt concerning two or more possible alternatives or courses of action

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

indecision; indecisiveness; irresolution

Context example:

his indecision was only momentary but the opportunity was lost

Hypernyms ("indecision" is a kind of...):

doubt; doubtfulness; dubiety; dubiousness; incertitude; uncertainty (the state of being unsure of something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "indecision"):

hesitation; vacillation; wavering (indecision in speech or action)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The trait of irresolution; a lack of firmness of character or purpose

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

indecision; indecisiveness

Context example:

the king's incurable indecisiveness caused turmoil in his court

Hypernyms ("indecision" is a kind of...):

irresoluteness; irresolution (the trait of being irresolute; lacking firmness of purpose)

Antonym:

decision (the trait of resoluteness as evidenced by firmness of character or purpose)

 Context examples 

Messner looked at her with lazy indecision.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

But I had not even a moment’s indecision.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Everybody was growing weary of indecision, and the first idea with everybody was, that nothing had been proposed before so likely to suit them all.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

In the same instant he knew he ought not to accept, and found himself struggling in the throes of indecision.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

It seemed he would fly to pieces, so terrible was the control he was exerting, holding together by an unwonted indecision the counter- forces that struggled within him for mastery.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

You likely felt the approaching slowdown of Mercury well in advance of its official turnaround date (October 31), with delays, postponements, cancellations, electronic problems, machine repairs, and indecision from VIPs to have projects approved.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Thus are my hopes blasted by cowardice and indecision; I come back ignorant and disappointed.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Restless and dissatisfied every where, her sister could never obtain her opinion of any article of purchase, however it might equally concern them both: she received no pleasure from anything; was only impatient to be at home again, and could with difficulty govern her vexation at the tediousness of Mrs. Palmer, whose eye was caught by every thing pretty, expensive, or new; who was wild to buy all, could determine on none, and dawdled away her time in rapture and indecision.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

She might assist his resolution, or reconcile him to it; she might give just praise to Harriet, or, by representing to him his own independence, relieve him from that state of indecision, which must be more intolerable than any alternative to such a mind as his.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

To know that she had the power of revealing what would so exceedingly astonish Jane, and must, at the same time, so highly gratify whatever of her own vanity she had not yet been able to reason away, was such a temptation to openness as nothing could have conquered but the state of indecision in which she remained as to the extent of what she should communicate; and her fear, if she once entered on the subject, of being hurried into repeating something of Bingley which might only grieve her sister further.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)