reluctant
unwilling; disinclined: a reluctant candidate.
struggling in opposition.
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Origin of reluctant
1synonym study For reluctant
Opposites for reluctant
Other words from reluctant
- re·luc·tant·ly, adverb
- half-re·luc·tant, adjective
- un·re·luc·tant, adjective
Words that may be confused with reluctant
- reluctant , reticent
Words Nearby reluctant
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use reluctant in a sentence
Governments may become more reluctant to rely on other countries for strategic goods, such as masks and medicine or computer chips.
After $20 trillion in pandemic relief spending, there’s still no sign of inflation. What happened? | Bernhard Warner | August 25, 2020 | FortuneOfficials were reluctant to take their pitch to investors in the bond market because of the uncertainty of future court battles.
Morning Report: The Deal Before the 101 Ash St. Deal | Voice of San Diego | August 24, 2020 | Voice of San DiegoCity lawyers were confident that he was wrong but the uncertainty of court battles to come meant that the city was reluctant to take its pitch to investors in the bond market.
The Deal Before the 101 Ash St. Debacle Helps Explain How We Got Here | Lisa Halverstadt and Jesse Marx | August 24, 2020 | Voice of San DiegoThe uptick in cases in recent weeks has been blamed on social gatherings and travelers, but officials are reluctant to resort to the strict lockdowns imposed during the initial peak of the pandemic in March and April.
Europe is at a turning point as COVID cases spike, and fragile governments feel the heat | Bernhard Warner | August 20, 2020 | FortuneOther publishers are reluctant to help, either because they have their own subscriptions to promote or they are not sure if Scroll is going to succeed.
Inside Tony Haile’s expedition to (help) save the news business | Steven Perlberg | July 27, 2020 | Digiday
Some of the most explosive opportunities could be based around things that the Western world seems reluctant to adopt.
I was reluctant to ask anything too specific, because I felt like I would be asking for trouble!
Christopher Nolan Uncut: On ‘Interstellar,’ Ben Affleck’s Batman, and the Future of Mankind | Marlow Stern | November 10, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBut American officials remained reluctant to acknowledge it.
Spies Warned White House: Don’t Hit Al Qaeda in Syria | Shane Harris, Jamie Dettmer | November 7, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAnd if candidates on the ballot this year are reluctant to campaign alongside Sanders, they are not shy about taking his money.
Bernie Sanders Is Showing Us the Socialist Way to Run for President | David Freedlander | November 3, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTRick Grimes, played by Andrew Lincoln, begins the series reluctant and bitter.
The Walking Dead’s Luke Skywalker: Rick Grimes Is the Perfect Modern-Day Mythical Hero | Regina Lizik | October 28, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIt was difficult, with the mean appliances of the time, to wring subsistence from the reluctant earth.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice | Stephen LeacockHe only tore himself from her reluctant arms as the final whistle sounded from the engine.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3) | Charles James WillsWith this political subjection one is reluctant to associate a more sordid kind of obligation.
King Robert the Bruce | A. F. MurisonThe woman seemed very reluctant to accept the offer, pleading various excuses.
The World Before Them | Susanna MoodieThe courts are still more reluctant to admit intoxication as an excuse for criminal acts.
Putnam's Handy Law Book for the Layman | Albert Sidney Bolles
British Dictionary definitions for reluctant
/ (rɪˈlʌktənt) /
not eager; unwilling; disinclined
archaic offering resistance or opposition
Origin of reluctant
1Derived forms of reluctant
- reluctantly, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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