unwilling
not willing; reluctant; loath; averse: an unwilling partner in the crime.
opposed; offering resistance; stubborn or obstinate; refractory: an unwilling captive.
Origin of unwilling
1Other words from unwilling
- un·will·ing·ly, adverb
- un·will·ing·ness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use unwilling in a sentence
Although there’s widespread support for more diversity in education, contracting and public employment, most voters were unwilling to take this step.
Morning Report: Council Prez Race Reviving Some 2018 Tensions | Voice of San Diego | November 25, 2020 | Voice of San DiegoThere were evacuation orders in place for some half a million people across Louisiana and Texas, but as is always the case during severe weather events, some residents were unwilling or unable to relocate.
Hurricane Laura is the strongest storm to hit Louisiana in more than a century | Sara Chodosh | August 28, 2020 | Popular-ScienceThat means, for example, it could take a while for unemployed workers to find new jobs, if the businesses that managed to weather the crisis are unwilling or unable to quickly scale up to where they were before the recession.
Even With A Vaccine, The Economy Could Take Many Months To Return To Normal | Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux | August 25, 2020 | FiveThirtyEightWhile more than 90 percent of Simon’s tenants have reopened, foot traffic remains slower than usual and many remain unable or unwilling to pay rent.
America’s Largest Shopping Mall Owner Gets a New Tenant: Itself | Daniel Malloy | August 20, 2020 | OzyMental-health patients are often unreliable narrators when it comes to their health—unable or unwilling to identify their symptoms.
Machines can spot mental health issues—if you hand over your personal data | Bobbie Johnson | August 13, 2020 | MIT Technology Review
But an absence of niceties nor an unwillingness to conform is not a legitimate cause for impeachment.
The University of Texas’s Machiavellian War on Its Regent | David Davis | October 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHis unwillingness to marry her and settle down has only increased her fervor.
But the price of bipartisanship in the Obama era at least has been an unwillingness until recently to openly oppose the president.
So the U.S. government is about to run out of money and may announce its unwillingness to meet legal debt obligations.
Shutdown? What Shutdown? It’s Time to Buy U.S. Government Bonds! | Daniel Gross | September 23, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTAn unwillingness to process economic failure condemned it to a slower-than-normal recovery.
Japan’s Fiscal Crossroads: Will Abenomics Mean Tougher Changes? | Daniel Gross | July 26, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTIf you exhibit any modest unwillingness, they laugh at you, and perhaps two or three of them will come in to rally Monsieur.
How jealously these were guarded appears also in the unwillingness to multiply oaths of office.
A short history of Rhode Island | George Washington GreeneIn this he doubtless was influenced chiefly by his unwillingness to miss a battle, especially against such great numerical odds.
The Life of Nelson, Vol. I (of 2) | A. T. (Alfred Thayer) MahanThe commander watched them, on his face the blankness of unwillingness to believe.
Space Prison | Tom GodwinIf he had shown any unwillingness they would have pushed their way in.
The Highgrader | William MacLeod Raine
British Dictionary definitions for unwilling
/ (ʌnˈwɪlɪŋ) /
unfavourably inclined; reluctant
performed, given, or said with reluctance
Derived forms of unwilling
- unwillingly, adverb
- unwillingness, noun
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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