Reluctant Meaning
/ɹɪˈlʌktənt/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjNot wanting to take some action; unwilling to do something.
adjContrary; defiant; refractory.
Sentence Examples
Too long a holiday makes one reluctant to start work again.
Some soldiers were reluctant to obey the commands.
He finally gave a reluctant smile.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ student finally agreed to join the study group after much persuasion.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He was ____ to admit that he had made a mistake, even when the evidence was clear.
Word Origin & History
Learned borrowing from Latin reluctāns (whence -ant), present participle of reluctor (“to struggle against, oppose, resist”), from re- (“back”) + luctor (“to struggle”) (whence re-.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"They are reluctant to the inclusion of a necessity test, especially of a horizontal nature, and emphasize, instead, the importance of procedural disciplines [...]."
— 2008, Kern Alexander et al., The World Trade Organization and Trade in Services, page 222:
"That’s probably because you appear as someone who rarely puts himself forward, and is reluctant to teach the wisdom he has."
— 2010, Plato, “Euthyphro”, in Christopher Rowe, transl., The Last Days of Socrates, Penguin Books Ltd., →ISBN, line 3d:
"My son, a Canada-based IT professional who often travels to Ukraine, told me about the exhilarating atmosphere on those Ukraine-bound trains, bringing home hundreds of the unwilling refugees, mostly women and children (including the babies, born in exile on the way to meet their Ukrainian fighter fathers for the first time). The difference between Ukrainian refugees and other reluctant exiles is that Ukrainians are desperate to return."
— 2024 September 4, Vitali Vitaliev, “A salute to Ukraine's 'Second Army'”, in RAIL, number 1017, page 49:
"Whence we must infer, that the least stir of tumult or rebellion against the Prince is reluctant to all the Ordinances of Heaven, is an abortive product of Hell against the pure dictates of nature […]"
— 1683 September 9, A Sermon of Thanksgiving for the Happy Delivery of Charles the Second […] Preached […] in Thomas-Town in the County of Kilkenny, published 1683, page 4:
"If pride be allowed to cause you to envy or wound the characters of such as differ from, or outshine you, or to make you reluctant to Christian reproof from your inferiors, how fearful is your guilt and danger!"
— 1782, John Brown, “Address to Students of Divinity”, in A Compendious View of Natural and Revealed Religion, page xiv:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ student finally agreed to join the study group after much persuasion.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He was ____ to admit that he had made a mistake, even when the evidence was clear.