Hesitant moving at first, becoming courteous (9)
I believe the answer is:
attentive
'courteous' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'hesitant moving at first' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'at' is found in the answer.
'first' could be 'i' (I in Roman numerals eg Elizabeth I) and 'i' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'becoming' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for attentive that I've seen before include "Mindful" , "Careful" , "Showing courtesy to another, or alert" , "Listening closely" , "Taking notice" .)