reluctance

UK/ɹɪˈlʌktəns/US/ɹɪˈlʌktəns/

nounB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #8,684 of 15,258leans written

Reluctance is unwillingness that shows in how slowly you act. You are doing it, and everybody can see you would rather not.

It takes to and a verb. The word describes visible hesitation rather than refusal, which is why it appears in phrases like with obvious reluctance and considerable reluctance. Formal writing uses it to explain a decision that was made late. The adjective reluctant is far commoner. Physics has an unrelated technical sense in magnetism, which almost nobody outside the subject ever meets.

Definitions of reluctance

1nounreluctanceUnwillingness to do something, shown in hesitation.B2+
“He agreed, with obvious reluctance.”

Where it comes from

Reluctance is a struggle. Latin reluctor joins re, back, to luctor, to wrestle, so a reluctant person is fighting the thing rather than merely declining it.

Latin
relū̆ctor — to struggle against, oppose, resist
English, today
reluctance

Built from

re- · Latin — back
luctor · Latin — to struggle

From reluct + -ance. From Latin relū̆ctor (“to struggle against, oppose, resist”) -ance, from re- (“back”) + luctor (“to struggle”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 7 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

reluctance in the wild

Switched reluctance motors are very large stepping motors with a reduced pole count.
Stepper motor
Vietnam syndrome is a term in U.S. politics that refers to public reluctance to American military interventions overseas, following the controversy and failure of the Vietnam War.
Vietnam syndrome
Magnetic reluctance, or magnetic resistance, is a concept used in the analysis of magnetic circuits.
Magnetic reluctance
Peter John Lawrenson was an Emeritus Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Leeds who pioneered and championed the development of switched reluctance drive technology.
Peter Lawrenson
The song describes being compelled to learn to swim despite the persistent fear of water and drowning, comparing it to the reluctance to dance.
Aqua Boogie (A Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop)

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the luctor family

reluctant reluctance reluctantly

reluctance — used about once every 3,740 pages · #8,684 · point at the bar for the others

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