reluctant

English

Etymology

From Latin reluctans, present participle of reluctare, reluctari (“to struggle against, oppose, resist”), from re- (“back”) + luctari (“to struggle”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɹɪˈlʌktənt/, SAMPA: /r\I"lVkt@nt/

• Audio (US)

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Adjective

reluctant (comparative more reluctant, superlative most reluctant)

1. (now rare) Opposing; offering resistance (to).
   • 1819, Lord Byron, Don Juan, II.108:

     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 [...].

   • 2008, Kern Alexander et al., The World Trade Organization and Trade in Services, p. 222:

     They are reluctant to the inclusion of a necessity test, especially of a horizontal nature, and emphasize, instead, the importance of procedural disciplines [...].

2. Not wanting to take some action; unwilling, hesitant; uncertain.

   She was reluctant to lend him the money

Synonyms

• hesitant

Translations

not wanting to take some action

Chinese: 不情愿 (bù qíngyuàn) Czech: váhavý (cs) Dutch: aarzelend (nl) Finnish: haluton (fi), vastahakoinen (fi) French: hésitant (fr), réticent (fr) m., réticente (fr) f. German: zögernd (de) Indonesian: enggan (id) Interlingua: reluctante Italian: riluttante (it) Latin: invītus (la)

Manx: neuarryltagh (gv), neuwooiagh (gv) Polish: niechętny Romanian: reticent, precaut, prevăzător (ro) Russian: неохотный (ru) Scots: sweer, sweirt, laith Scottish Gaelic: aindeònach (gd), leisg (gd) Spanish: reticente (es) Swedish: motvillig (sv)

Related terms

• reluctance
• reluctantly

External links

• reluctant in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• reluctant in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• reluctant at OneLook Dictionary Search