Dictionary

reluctant en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ɹɪˈlʌktənt/

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin reluctāns (whence -ant), present participle of reluctor (“to struggle against, oppose, resist”), from re- (“back”) + luctor (“to struggle”) (whence re-.

Meanings

1. Not wanting to take some action; unwilling to do something.
   • She was reluctant to lend him the money
   • 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. 2024 September 4, Vitali Vitaliev, “A salute to Ukraine's 'Second Army'”, in RAIL, number 1017, page 49:
   • Surprisingly, our new dog is a reluctant ball-retriever.
   • That’s probably because you appear as someone who rarely puts himself forward, and is reluctant to teach the wisdom he has. 2010, Plato, “Euthyphro”, in Christopher Rowe, transl., The Last Days of Socrates, Penguin Books Ltd., →ISBN, line 3d:
   • They are reluctant to the inclusion of a necessity test, especially of a horizontal nature, and emphasize, instead, the importance of procedural disciplines [...]. 2008, Kern Alexander et al., The World Trade Organization and Trade in Services, page 222:
2. (archaic) Contrary; defiant; refractory.
   • Many of the inhabitants were reluctant against the measure, and are still so obstinate that they must be compelled to do their duty. 1866 February 15, H. Hjaltelin, “On the Treatment of Virulent and Zymotic Diseases”, in The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, volume 74, number 3, page 59:
   • 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 [...]. 1819 July 15, [Lord Byron], Don Juan, London: […] Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, canto II, stanza 108:
   • 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! 1782, John Brown, “Address to Students of Divinity”, in A Compendious View of Natural and Revealed Religion, page xiv:
   • 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 […] 1683 September 9, A Sermon of Thanksgiving for the Happy Delivery of Charles the Second […] Preached […] in Thomas-Town in the County of Kilkenny, published 1683, page 4:
3. (qualifier:regular expressions) Tending to match as little text as possible.

Forms

Antonyms

greedy

Deriveds

reluctant dragon · reluctancy · unreluctant

Relateds

reluctantly · reluctance

Synonyms

disinclined · loath · grudging

Translations (75)

uk неохо́чий (not wanting to take some action) · tr gönülsüz (not wanting to take some action) · hu vonakodó (not wanting to take some action) · fr récalcitrant (not wanting to take some action) · mi manauhea (not wanting to take some action) · ro reticent (not wanting to take some action) · id enggan (not wanting to take some action) · fi vastahakoinen (not wanting to take some action) · ia reluctante (not wanting to take some action) · es reacio (not wanting to take some action) · is hlédrægur (not wanting to take some action) · nn motvillig (not wanting to take some action) · es reluctante (not wanting to take some action) · mi manawapā (not wanting to take some action) · nl schoorvoetend (not wanting to take some action) · es rezongón (not wanting to take some action) · nb motvillig (not wanting to take some action) · gd aindeònach (not wanting to take some action) · sco sweer (not wanting to take some action) · es renuente (not wanting to take some action) · ja 嫌な (not wanting to take some action) · cmn 不情願 /不情愿 (not wanting to take some action) · sga lesc (not wanting to take some action) · de widerstrebend (not wanting to take some action) · sco sweirt (not wanting to take some action) · tr hevessiz (not wanting to take some action) · mn дургүй (not wanting to take some action) · fr réticent (not wanting to take some action) · vi miễn cưỡng (not wanting to take some action) · mi kōroiroi (not wanting to take some action) · bg неохо́тен (not wanting to take some action) · ko 싫어하다 (not wanting to take some action) · sk neochotný (not wanting to take some action) · ru неохо́тный (not wanting to take some action) · km អល់អែក (not wanting to take some action) · es repelón (not wanting to take some action) · cs neochotný (not wanting to take some action) · la invītus (not wanting to take some action) · gd leisg (not wanting to take some action) · fi haluton (not wanting to take some action) · gv neuwooiagh (not wanting to take some action) · es reticente (not wanting to take some action) · fr réfractaire (not wanting to take some action) · mi horokukū (not wanting to take some action) · ru нежела́ющий (not wanting to take some action) · ja 嫌がる (not wanting to take some action) · it riluttante (not wanting to take some action) · es rezonglón (not wanting to take some action) · nl aarzelend (not wanting to take some action) · sco laith (not wanting to take some action) · es renitente (not wanting to take some action) · sv motvillig (not wanting to take some action) · mi whakakumu (not wanting to take some action) · de widerwillig (not wanting to take some action) · tr isteksiz (not wanting to take some action) · mi whakawhēuaua (not wanting to take some action) · gv neuarryltagh (not wanting to take some action) · hu kelletlen (not wanting to take some action) · nn motviljug (not wanting to take some action) · es rezongador (not wanting to take some action) · mi whakauaua (not wanting to take some action) · cs zdráhající se (not wanting to take some action) · pt relutante (not wanting to take some action) · km រអាដៃ (not wanting to take some action) · de zögernd (not wanting to take some action) · pdt looj (not wanting to take some action) · eo malvolonta (not wanting to take some action) · mi whakatohetohe (not wanting to take some action) · ga drogallach (not wanting to take some action) · mi korongata (not wanting to take some action) · fr rétif (not wanting to take some action) · fa بیمیل (not wanting to take some action) · pl niechętny (not wanting to take some action) · sv återhållsam (not wanting to take some action) · be неахво́тны (not wanting to take some action)