1.
[syn: loath, loth, reluctant]
2. disinclined to become involved;
- Example: "they were usually reluctant to socialize"
- Example: "reluctant to help"
3. not eager;
- Example: "foreigners stubbornly reluctant to accept our ways"
- Example: "fresh from college and reluctant for the moment to marry him"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
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]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
reluctant
adj 1: unwillingness to do something contrary to your custom; "a
reluctant smile"; "loath to admit a mistake" [syn:
loath, loth, reluctant]
2: disinclined to become involved; "they were usually reluctant
to socialize"; "reluctant to help"
3: not eager; "foreigners stubbornly reluctant to accept our
ways"; "fresh from college and reluctant for the moment to
marry him"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
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