demur

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle)
• HYPHEN: de=mur

OXFORD DICTIONARY

demur, v. & n.
--v.intr. (demurred, demurring)
1 (often foll. by to, at) raise scruples or objections.
2 Law put in a demurrer.
--n. (also demurral) (usu. in neg.)
1 an objection (agreed without demur).
2 the act or process of objecting.

Derivative

demurrant n. (in sense 2 of v.).

Etymology

ME f. OF demeure (n.), demeurer (v.) f. Rmc (as DE-, L morari delay)

THESAURUS

demur

aversion, back down, balance, balk, bashfulness, beef, bitch, blench, boggle, boggling, boycott, call in question, challenge, combat, combative reaction, complain, complaint, compunction, conscience, counteraction, cry out against, debate, defiance, deliberate, demonstrate, demonstrate against, demonstration, demurral, demurrer, deprecate, deprecation, difference, difficulty, diffidence, disagreement, disapproval, disapprove, disinclination, dispute, dissent, dissentience, enter a protest, exception, expostulate, expostulation, falter, faltering, fear, fight, fight shy of, flinch, fractiousness, gag, grievance, grievance committee, hang back, hang off, have qualms, hem and haw, hesitance, hesitancy, hesitate, hesitation, hold off, holler, hover, howl, hum and haw, indignation meeting, jib, kick, make bones about, march, modesty, negativism, noncooperation, nonviolent protest, object, objection, obstinacy, oppose, opposition, passive resistance, pause, picket, picketing, ponder, press objections, protest, protest demonstration, protestation, pull back, quail, qualm, qualm of conscience, qualmishness, question, raise a howl, rally, reaction, rebuff, recalcitrance, recalcitrancy, recalcitration, recoil, refractoriness, reluctance, remonstrance, remonstrate, remonstration, renitence, renitency, repellence, repellency, repulse, repulsion, resist, resistance, retreat, revolt, scruple, scrupulosity, scrupulousness, shilly-shally, shrink, shrinking, shy, shy at, shyness, sit in, sit-in, squawk, stand, state a grievance, stick, stick at, stickle, stickling, stop to consider, straddle the fence, strain, strain at, strike, stumble, teach in, teach-in, think twice about, uncooperativeness, unwillingness, vacillate, variance, waver, wince, withdraw, withstanding, yell bloody murder, yield

ROGET THESAURUS

demur

Unwillingness

N unwillingness, indisposition, indisposedness, disinclination, aversation, nolleity, nolition, renitence, renitency, reluctance, indifference, backwardness, slowness, want of alacrity, want of readiness, indocility, scrupulousness, scrupulosity, qualms of conscience, twinge of conscience, delicacy, demur, scruple, qualm, shrinking, recoil, hesitation, fastidiousness, averseness, dissent, refusal, unwilling, not in the vein, loth, loath, shy of, disinclined, indisposed, averse, reluctant, not content, adverse, laggard, backward, remiss, slack, slow to, indifferent, scrupulous, squeamish, repugnant, restiff, restive, demurring, unconsenting, involuntary, unwillingly, grudgingly, with a heavy heart, with a bad, with an ill grace, against one's wishes, against one's will, against the grain, sore against one's wishes, sore against one's will, sore against one's grain, invita Minerva, a contre caeur, malgre soi, in spite of one's teeth, in spite of oneself, nolens volens, perforce, under protest, no, not for the world, far be it from me.

VB be unwilling, nill, dislike, grudge, begrudge, not be able to find it in one's heart to, not have the stomach to, demur, stick at, scruple, stickle, hang fire, run rusty, recoil, shrink, swerve, hesitate, avoid, oppose, dissent, refuse.

Irresolution

N irresolution, infirmity of purpose, indecision, indetermination, undetermination, unsettlement, uncertainty, demur, suspense, hesitating, hesitation, hesitancy, vacillation, changeableness, fluctuation, alternation, caprice, fickleness, levity, legerete, pliancy, weakness, timidity, cowardice, half measures, waverer, ass between two bundles of hay, shuttlecock, butterfly, wimp, doughface, irresolute, infirm of purpose, double-minded, half-hearted, undecided, unresolved, undetermined, shilly-shally, fidgety, tremulous, hesitating, off one's balance, at a loss, vacillating, unsteady, unsteadfast, fickle, without ballast, capricious, volatile, frothy, light, lightsome, light-minded, giddy, fast and loose, weak, feeble-minded, frail, timid, wimpish, wimpy, cowardly, dough-faced, facile, pliant, unable to say 'no', easy-going revocable, reversible, irresolutely, irresolved, irresolvedly, in faltering accents, off and on, from pillar to post, seesaw, Int, how happy could I be with either!.

VB be irresolute, hang in suspense, keep in suspense, leave "ad referendum", think twice about, pause, dawdle, remain neuter, dillydally, hesitate, boggle, hover, dacker, hum and haw, demur, not know one's own mind, debate, balance, dally with, coquet with, will and will not, chaser-balancer, go halfway, compromise, make a compromise, be thrown off one's balance, stagger like a drunken man, be afraid, let 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would', falter, waver vacillate, change, retract, fluctuate, pendulate, alternate, keep off and on, play fast and loose, blow hot and cold, shuffle, palter, blink, trim.

Dissent

VB dissent, demur, call in question, differ in opinion, disagree, say no, refuse assent, refuse to admit, cavil, protest, raise one's voice against, repudiate, contradict, have no notion of, differ toto caelo, revolt at, revolt from the idea, shake the head, shrug the shoulders, look askance, look askant, secede, recant.