reluctant
//ɹɪˈlʌktənt//
Forms
- Comparative
- more reluctant
- Superlative
- most reluctant
Definitions
1.Not wanting to take some action; unwilling to do something.
- Surprisingly, our new dog is a reluctant ball-retriever.
- That’s probably because you appear as someone who rarely puts himself forward, and is reluctant to teach the wisdom he has.
- They are reluctant to the inclusion of a necessity test, especially of a horizontal nature, and emphasize, instead, the importance of procedural disciplines [...].
2.Tending to match as little text as possible.
Frequency
Overall
Rare· #4995
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Rare
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin reluctāns (whence -ant), present participle of reluctor (“to struggle against, oppose, resist”)
From re- (“back”) + luctor (“to struggle”) (whence re-.