Hesitate to show a bit of love during hostilities (5)
I believe the answer is:
waver
'hesitate' is the definition.
(wavering is a kind of hesitating)
'a bit of love during hostilities' is the wordplay.
'a bit of love' becomes 've' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'during' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'hostilities' becomes 'war' (hostilities between nations).
've' placed into 'war' is 'WAVER'.
'to show' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for waver that I've seen before include "One making signal" , "someone gesticulating wildly" , "Not be sure of" , "Be irresolute; flicker" , "Be uncertain about decision" .)