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UNWILLINGNESS
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The trait of being unwilling
Example:
in spite of our warnings he plowed ahead with the involuntariness of an automaton
Synonyms:
involuntariness; unwillingness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("unwillingness" is a kind of...):
disposition; temperament (your usual mood)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "unwillingness"):
disinclination; hesitancy; hesitation; indisposition; reluctance (a certain degree of unwillingness)
resistance ((psychiatry) an unwillingness to bring repressed feelings into conscious awareness)
Antonym:
willingness (cheerful compliance)
Derivation:
unwilling (in spite of contrary volition)
unwilling (not disposed or inclined toward)
Context examples:
The agitation and tears which the subject occasioned, brought on a headache; and it grew so much worse towards the evening, that, added to her unwillingness to see Mr. Darcy, it determined her not to attend her cousins to Rosings, where they were engaged to drink tea.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
That the said Quinbus Flestrin, having brought the imperial fleet of Blefuscu into the royal port, and being afterwards commanded by his imperial majesty to seize all the other ships of the said empire of Blefuscu, and reduce that empire to a province, to be governed by a viceroy from hence, and to destroy and put to death, not only all the Big-endian exiles, but likewise all the people of that empire who would not immediately forsake the Big-endian heresy, he, the said Flestrin, like a false traitor against his most auspicious, serene, imperial majesty, did petition to be excused from the said service, upon pretence of unwillingness to force the consciences, or destroy the liberties and lives of an innocent people.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
Marianne, not contented with absolutely refusing to go herself, was very urgent to prevent her sister's going at all; and Mrs. Jennings, though her carriage was always at Elinor's service, so very much disliked Mrs. John Dashwood, that not even her curiosity to see how she looked after the late discovery, nor her strong desire to affront her by taking Edward's part, could overcome her unwillingness to be in her company again.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
Mr. and Mrs. Elton, indeed, shewed no unwillingness to mix, and be as agreeable as they could; but during the two whole hours that were spent on the hill, there seemed a principle of separation, between the other parties, too strong for any fine prospects, or any cold collation, or any cheerful Mr. Weston, to remove.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
From an unwillingness to confess how much her intimacy with Mr. Darcy had been over-rated, Elizabeth had never yet answered Mrs. Gardiner's long letter; but now, having that to communicate which she knew would be most welcome, she was almost ashamed to find that her uncle and aunt had already lost three days of happiness, and immediately wrote as follows: I would have thanked you before, my dear aunt, as I ought to have done, for your long, kind, satisfactory, detail of particulars; but to say the truth, I was too cross to write.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
Even THEN, however, when fully determined on paying my addresses to her, I allowed myself most improperly to put off, from day to day, the moment of doing it, from an unwillingness to enter into an engagement while my circumstances were so greatly embarrassed.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
After Emma had talked about it for ten minutes, Mr. Woodhouse felt no unwillingness, and only made the usual stipulation of not sitting at the bottom of the table himself, with the usual regular difficulty of deciding who should do it for him.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
Willoughby's behaviour in taking leave of them, his embarrassment, and affectation of cheerfulness, and, above all, his unwillingness to accept her mother's invitation, a backwardness so unlike a lover, so unlike himself, greatly disturbed her.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
She wasn't able to endure being at a disadvantage, and given this unwillingness, I suppose she had begun dealing in subterfuges when she was very young in order to keep that cool, insolent smile turned to the world and yet satisfy the demands of her hard jaunty body.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
