Reluctant

//ɹɪˈlʌktənt// adj

adj ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Not wanting to take some action; unwilling to do something.

    "She was reluctant to lend him the money"

  2. 2
    Contrary; defiant; refractory. archaic

    "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 […]"

  3. 3
    Tending to match as little text as possible.
Adjective
  1. 1
    not eager wordnet
  2. 2
    disinclined to become involved wordnet
  3. 3
    unwillingness to do something contrary to your custom wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
disinclinedhesitantloathuneagerunwillingafraid

Example

More examples

"Too long a holiday makes one reluctant to start work again."

Etymology

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

Related phrases

reluctant dragon

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.