Online dictionaryOnline dictionary
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home 		English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Reluctant   /rɪlˈəktənt/  /rilˈəktənt/   Listen
adjective
Reluctant  adj.  
1.
Striving against; opposed in desire; unwilling; disinclined; loth. "Reluctant, but in vain." "Reluctant now I touched the trembling string."
2.
Proceeding from an unwilling mind; granted with reluctance; as, reluctant obedience.
Synonyms: Averse; unwilling; loth; disinclined; repugnant; backward; coy. See Averse.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words


Share |
Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar




"Reluctant" Quotes from Famous Books



... going to the Fair and, Friday being the big day, they were going on Friday. Imogene asked for a holiday on that day. The request was granted. Then Kenelm announced that he and Hannah were cal'latin' to go. Thankful was somewhat reluctant; she felt that to be deprived of the services of both her hired man and maid on the same day might be troublesome. But as the Parker announcement was more in the nature of an ultimatum than a request, she said yes under protest. But when Captain ...
— Thankful's Inheritance • Joseph C. Lincoln
... describe the short hours of recreation; but he forgets the daily tedious labours of the school, which is approached each morning with anxious and reluctant steps. ...
— Memoirs of My Life and Writings • Edward Gibbon
... her with a scrutiny in which there is a good deal of reluctant respect] You seem a pretty straightforward downright sort of ...
— Man And Superman • George Bernard Shaw
... principles on which it was based. If they were true principles, as they were, the government founded upon them was destined to a life and an influence that would continue while the liberties it was intended to preserve should be valued by the human family. Those liberties had been wrung from reluctant monarchs in many contests, in many countries, and were grouped into creeds and established in ordinances sealed with blood, in many great struggles of the people. They were not new to the people. They were consecrated ...
— Democracy In America, Volume 1 (of 2) • Alexis de Tocqueville
... great deal to the trades," observed Mr. Effingham; "which have treated us as kindly towards the end of the passage, as they seemed reluctant to join us in the commencement. It has been a momentous month, and I hope we shall all retain healthful recollections of it ...
— Homeward Bound - or, The Chase • James Fenimore Cooper


More quotes...


Copyright © 2025 Dictionary One.com