reluctant

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Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɹɪˈlʌktənt/

Adjective

reluctant

1. (now rare) Opposing; offering resistance (to).
   • 1819, Lord Byron, Don Juan, II.108:

     There, breathless, with his digging nails he clung / Fast to the sand, lest the returning wave, / From whose reluctant roar his life he wrung, / Should suck him back to her insatiate grave [...].

   • 2008, Kern Alexander et al., The World Trade Organization and Trade in Services, p. 222:

     They are reluctant to the inclusion of a necessity test, especially of a horizontal nature, and emphasize, instead, the importance of procedural disciplines [...].

2. Not wanting to take some action; unwilling.

   She was reluctant to lend him the money

3. (regular expressions) Tending to match as little text as possible.

   Antonyms: greedy

Synonyms

• (offering resistance to) refractory
• (not wanting to take some action) unwilling, disinclined

Related terms

• reluctance
• reluctantly

Translations

• French: récalcitrant, réfractaire

Translations

• French: réticent, réservé, rétif
• German: zögernd, widerwillig, widerstrebend
• Italian: riluttante
• Portuguese: relutante
• Russian: неохо́тный
• Spanish: renuente, reacio, reluctante, reticente

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