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RELUCTANT
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Not eager
Example:
fresh from college and reluctant for the moment to marry him
Classified under:
Similar:
uneager (lacking interest or spirit or animation)
Derivation:
reluctance (a certain degree of unwillingness)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Disinclined to become involved
Example:
reluctant to help
Classified under:
Similar:
disinclined (unwilling because of mild dislike or disapproval)
Derivation:
reluctance (a certain degree of unwillingness)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Unwillingness to do something contrary to your custom
Example:
loath to admit a mistake
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
unwilling (not disposed or inclined toward)
Derivation:
reluctance (a certain degree of unwillingness)
Context examples:
Scarlet with shame and anger, Amy went to and fro six dreadful times, and as each doomed couple, looking oh, so plump and juicy, fell from her reluctant hands, a shout from the street completed the anguish of the girls, for it told them that their feast was being exulted over by the little Irish children, who were their sworn foes.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Chance—or rather the evil influence, the Angel of Destruction, which asserted omnipotent sway over me from the moment I turned my reluctant steps from my father’s door—led me first to M. Krempe, professor of natural philosophy.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
And then turning the conversation, he would have engaged her on some other subject, but her answers were so shy and reluctant that he could not advance in any.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Then, with a quick low whine, Wolf sprang after him, overtook him, caught his hand between his teeth with reluctant tenderness, and strove gently to make him pause.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
I felt reluctant to be present, when Mr. Peggotty first met his sister and Ham; and made Mr. Omer my excuse for lingering behind.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
This, though late, and reluctant, and ungracious, was yet better than nothing, and her spirits improved.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
Thursday was to be the wedding day, and on Wednesday Miss Lucas paid her farewell visit; and when she rose to take leave, Elizabeth, ashamed of her mother's ungracious and reluctant good wishes, and sincerely affected herself, accompanied her out of the room.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
Oh, intolerable questions, when I could do nothing and go nowhere!—when a long way must yet be measured by my weary, trembling limbs before I could reach human habitation—when cold charity must be entreated before I could get a lodging: reluctant sympathy importuned, almost certain repulse incurred, before my tale could be listened to, or one of my wants relieved!
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
The feeble fingers were never idle, and one of her pleasures was to make little things for the school children daily passing to and fro, to drop a pair of mittens from her window for a pair of purple hands, a needlebook for some small mother of many dolls, penwipers for young penmen toiling through forests of pothooks, scrapbooks for picture-loving eyes, and all manner of pleasant devices, till the reluctant climbers of the ladder of learning found their way strewn with flowers, as it were, and came to regard the gentle giver as a sort of fairy godmother, who sat above there, and showered down gifts miraculously suited to their tastes and needs.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
“If it should be so,” I repeated, “Agnes will tell me at her own good time. A sister to whom I have confided so much, aunt, will not be reluctant to confide in me.”
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
