Reluctant

/ɹɪˈlʌktənt/ · adjective

Meaning

Not wanting to take some action; unwilling to do something..

Definitions by Sense

1. Not wanting to take some action; unwilling to do something.
2. (archaic) Contrary; defiant; refractory.
3. (regular expressions) Tending to match as little text as possible.

Example Sentences

She was reluctant to lend him the money

Surprisingly, our new dog is a reluctant ball-retriever.

They are reluctant to the inclusion of a necessity test, especially of a horizontal nature, and emphasize, instead, the importance of procedural disciplines [...].

That’s probably because you appear as someone who rarely puts himself forward, and is reluctant to teach the wisdom he has.

My son, a Canada-based IT professional who often travels to Ukraine, told me about the exhilarating atmosphere on those Ukraine-bound trains, bringing home hundreds of the unwilling refugees, mostly women and children (including the babies, born in exile on the way to meet their Ukrainian fighter fathers for the first time). The difference between Ukrainian refugees and other reluctant exiles is that Ukrainians are desperate to return.

Whence we must infer, that the least stir of tumult or rebellion against the Prince is reluctant to all the Ordinances of Heaven, is an abortive product of Hell against the pure dictates of nature […]

If pride be allowed to cause you to envy or wound the characters of such as differ from, or outshine you, or to make you reluctant to Christian reproof from your inferiors, how fearful is your guilt and danger!

There, breathless, with his digging nails he clung / Fast to the sand, lest the returning wave, / From whose reluctant roar his life he wrung, / Should suck him back to her insatiate grave [...].

Synonyms for reluctant

Antonyms for reluctant

Related Words

Word Forms

• more reluctant
• most reluctant

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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