misgiving

noun

mis·​giv·​ing ˌmis-ˈgi-viŋ 

: a feeling of doubt or suspicion especially concerning a future event

Many people have expressed misgivings about his ability to do the job.

Synonyms

• distrust
• distrustfulness
• doubt
• dubiety
• dubitation [archaic]
• incertitude
• misdoubt
• mistrust
• mistrustfulness
• query
• reservation
• skepticism
• suspicion
• uncertainty

Examples of misgiving in a Sentence

I felt some misgiving about his ability to do the job.

They regarded the plan with misgiving.

Recent Examples on the Web

Yet growing numbers of Americans seem to harbor misgivings about Trump’s age and cognitive abilities. —Dhruv Khullar, The New Yorker, 27 Oct. 2024

Gardens of Stone gets an extraordinary performance from James Caan as a career military man who can’t hide his misgivings about the war, and Caan shares a wonderfully salty camaraderie with James Earl Jones as his old Korean War buddy and steadfast superior. —Scott Tobias, Vulture, 27 Sep. 2024

Advertisement But the Harris campaign agreed to appear on Fox News in an effort to reach undecided voters who have misgivings about Trump. —Stephen Battaglio, Los Angeles Times, 17 Oct. 2024

Yet there are times when that surrender comes with misgivings attached. —Stephanie Zacharek, TIME, 11 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1582, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

misgiving

noun

mis·​giv·​ing (ˈ)mis-ˈgiv-iŋ 

: a feeling of doubt or suspicion especially concerning a future event