reluctant

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: re=luc=tant

CIDE DICTIONARY

reluctant, a. [L. reluctans, -antis, p. pr. of reluctari. See Reluct.].

•  Striving against; opposed in desire; unwilling; disinclined; loth.  [1913 Webster]

  "Reluctant, but in vain."  [1913 Webster]

  "Reluctant now I touched the trembling string."  [1913 Webster]
•  Proceeding from an unwilling mind; granted with reluctance; as, reluctant obedience.  Mitford.  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Averse; unwilling; loth; disinclined; repugnant; backward; coy. See Averse.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

reluctant, adj. (often foll. by to + infin.) unwilling or disinclined (most reluctant to agree).

Derivative

reluctance n. reluctantly adv.

Etymology

L reluctari (as RE-, luctari struggle)

THESAURUS

reluctant

afraid, ambling, antagonistic, apathetic, averse, backward, balking, balky, calculating, careful, cautious, chary, circumspect, claudicant, complaining, crawling, creeping, creeping like snail, deliberate, dilatory, disinclined, disputatious, disputing, dissentient, dissenting, easy, faltering, flagging, foot-dragging, fractious, gentle, gradual, grudging, halting, hesitant, hobbled, hobbling, idle, indifferent, indisposed, indolent, laggard, languid, languorous, lazy, leery, leisurely, limping, loath, lumbering, moderate, noncooperative, objecting, obstructive, on the barricades, opposed, perfunctory, poking, poky, proof against, protesting, rebellious, recalcitrant, refractory, relaxed, renitent, repellent, resistant, resisting, resistive, restive, retardant, retardative, sauntering, shuffling, shy, slack, slothful, slow, slow as death, slow as molasses, slow as slow, slow to, slow-crawling, slow-foot, slow-going, slow-legged, slow-moving, slow-paced, slow-poky, slow-running, slow-sailing, slow-stepped, sluggish, snail-paced, snaillike, staggering, strolling, tentative, toddling, tortoiselike, tottering, trudging, turtlelike, uncooperative, uneager, unenthusiastic, unhurried, unsubmissive, unwilling, unyielding, unzealous, up in arms, waddling, wary, withstanding

ROGET THESAURUS

reluctant

Unwillingness

N unwillingness, indisposition, indisposedness, disinclination, aversation, nolleity, nolition, renitence, renitency, reluctance, indifference, backwardness, slowness, want of alacrity, want of readiness, indocility, scrupulousness, scrupulosity, qualms of conscience, twinge of conscience, delicacy, demur, scruple, qualm, shrinking, recoil, hesitation, fastidiousness, averseness, dissent, refusal, unwilling, not in the vein, loth, loath, shy of, disinclined, indisposed, averse, reluctant, not content, adverse, laggard, backward, remiss, slack, slow to, indifferent, scrupulous, squeamish, repugnant, restiff, restive, demurring, unconsenting, involuntary, unwillingly, grudgingly, with a heavy heart, with a bad, with an ill grace, against one's wishes, against one's will, against the grain, sore against one's wishes, sore against one's will, sore against one's grain, invita Minerva, a contre caeur, malgre soi, in spite of one's teeth, in spite of oneself, nolens volens, perforce, under protest, no, not for the world, far be it from me.