Reluctant \Re*luc"tant\ (-tant), a. [L. reluctans, -antis, p.
pr. of reluctari. See Reluct.]
1. Striving against; opposed in desire; unwilling;
disinclined; loth.
[1913 Webster]
Reluctant, but in vain. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
Reluctant now I touched the trembling string.
--Tickell.
[1913 Webster]
2. Proceeding from an unwilling mind; granted with
reluctance; as, reluctant obedience. --Mitford.
[1913 Webster]
Syn: Averse; unwilling; loth; disinclined; repugnant;
backward; coy. See Averse.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
reluctant
adj 1: unwillingness to do something contrary to your custom; "a
reluctant smile"; "loath to admit a mistake";
"unwilling to face facts" [syn: loath, loth]
2: unwilling to become involved; "they were usually reluctant
to socialize"; "reluctant to help"
3: not eager; "foreigners stubbornly uneager to accept our
ways"; "fresh from college and uneager for the moment to
marry him"; "reluctant to help"
WordNet (r) 2.0
116 Moby Thesaurus words for "reluctant":
afraid, ambling, antagonistic, apathetic, averse, backward,
balking, balky, calculating, careful, cautious, chary, circumspect,
claudicant, complaining, crawling, creeping, creeping like snail,
deliberate, dilatory, disinclined, disputatious, disputing,
dissentient, dissenting, easy, faltering, flagging, foot-dragging,
fractious, gentle, gradual, grudging, halting, hesitant, hobbled,
hobbling, idle, indifferent, indisposed, indolent, laggard,
languid, languorous, lazy, leery, leisurely, limping, loath,
lumbering, moderate, noncooperative, objecting, obstructive,
on the barricades, opposed, perfunctory, poking, poky,
proof against, protesting, rebellious, recalcitrant, refractory,
relaxed, renitent, repellent, resistant, resisting, resistive,
restive, retardant, retardative, sauntering, shuffling, shy, slack,
slothful, slow, slow as death, slow as molasses, slow as slow,
slow to, slow-crawling, slow-foot, slow-going, slow-legged,
slow-moving, slow-paced, slow-poky, slow-running, slow-sailing,
slow-stepped, sluggish, snail-paced, snaillike, staggering,
strolling, tentative, toddling, tortoiselike, tottering, trudging,
turtlelike, uncooperative, uneager, unenthusiastic, unhurried,
unsubmissive, unwilling, unyielding, unzealous, up in arms,
waddling, wary, withstanding
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
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