reluctance
Americannoun
-
unwillingness; disinclination.
reluctance to speak in public.
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Electricity. the resistance to magnetic flux offered by a magnetic circuit, determined by the permeability and arrangement of the materials of the circuit.
noun
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lack of eagerness or willingness; disinclination
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physics a measure of the resistance of a closed magnetic circuit to a magnetic flux, equal to the ratio of the magnetomotive force to the magnetic flux
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of reluctance
First recorded in 1635–45; reluct(ant) + -ance
Explanation
Reluctance means "unwillingness." Your reluctance to travel on an airplane would be understandable if you glimpsed the pilot and copilot wearing party hats and blowing noisemakers. If you'd rather not do something, you feel a sense of reluctance about it. You pause for a moment, maybe to consider whether you should really go through with it, or just to enjoy the last moment before it happens. The word comes from the Latin reluctari, or to struggle against. There's always a struggle when reluctance is present, in that you feel pressure to do something or in not agreeing right away, someone is going to be disappointed.
Vocabulary lists containing reluctance
Coraline
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Boy: Tales of Childhood
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Stargirl
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I wasn’t sure what the reluctance was, but then they announced a Detroit date, and I no longer had the excuse that I wasn’t going to travel to see this.
From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2026
A reluctance to seek help for both physical and mental health is often cited as a reason why men, in general, die younger.
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026
“Perhaps part of this situation is my own reluctance to ask families for more money,” he wrote in his email to city leaders.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
To overcome reluctance by locals, big tech companies are committing to community engagement and a set of principles that address the things residents worry about most.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
Bigwig, to everyone’s surprise, showed considerable reluctance, and only crossed in the end after Kehaar, returning from another flight over Efrafa, had asked whether he would like him to go and fetch a fox.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
